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13. James Boswell, Journals and Letters from his Grand Tour (1764–1765)

  • Barbara Schaff
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Handbook of British Travel Writing
This chapter is in the book Handbook of British Travel Writing

Abstract

James Boswell’s fame as a travel writer rests on his first book, An Account of Corsica (1768 and 2006), in which he introduced British readers to a still fairly unknown European island entrenched in its struggle for independence from the Genoese, and his more widely known A Tour to the Hebrides (1785) based on his journey to Western Scotland with Samuel Johnson. Before he set foot on Corsica, however, Boswell had been on the Grand Tour, travelling from the Netherlands through Germany and Italy down to Naples in the years 1764-1765. Always more interested in meeting people than looking at antiquities, Boswell hobnobbed with German aristocrats, ingratiated himself with Rousseau and Voltaire in Switzerland, and had amorous affairs in Italy. His travel account, never published as a book during his lifetime, was distilled from his private journals only in the twentieth century. This chapter explores Boswell’s Grand Tour journal as an ego document in which central eighteenth-century questions about what makes human identity are addressed again and again on a journey which itself becomes a metaphor for character formation. Boswell’s unguarded, spontaneous, and sometimes incoherent notes mirror his religious and moral conflicts, his self-fashioning, struggle for approval, as well as his sexual recklessness and emotional immaturity which he shared with other young aristocratic Grand Tourists of the eighteenth century. As such, his Grand Tour journal represents nothing less than a sentimental journey of self-construction.

Abstract

James Boswell’s fame as a travel writer rests on his first book, An Account of Corsica (1768 and 2006), in which he introduced British readers to a still fairly unknown European island entrenched in its struggle for independence from the Genoese, and his more widely known A Tour to the Hebrides (1785) based on his journey to Western Scotland with Samuel Johnson. Before he set foot on Corsica, however, Boswell had been on the Grand Tour, travelling from the Netherlands through Germany and Italy down to Naples in the years 1764-1765. Always more interested in meeting people than looking at antiquities, Boswell hobnobbed with German aristocrats, ingratiated himself with Rousseau and Voltaire in Switzerland, and had amorous affairs in Italy. His travel account, never published as a book during his lifetime, was distilled from his private journals only in the twentieth century. This chapter explores Boswell’s Grand Tour journal as an ego document in which central eighteenth-century questions about what makes human identity are addressed again and again on a journey which itself becomes a metaphor for character formation. Boswell’s unguarded, spontaneous, and sometimes incoherent notes mirror his religious and moral conflicts, his self-fashioning, struggle for approval, as well as his sexual recklessness and emotional immaturity which he shared with other young aristocratic Grand Tourists of the eighteenth century. As such, his Grand Tour journal represents nothing less than a sentimental journey of self-construction.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Editors’ Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. 0. Introduction 1
  5. Part I: Systematic Questions
  6. 1. Periods of Travel Writing 11
  7. 2. Discourses of Travel Writing 31
  8. 3. Gender 55
  9. 4. Travel Writing and Translation 79
  10. 5. Practices and Purposes 95
  11. 6. Intertextual Travel Writing 113
  12. 7. The Market for Travel Writing 125
  13. Part II: Close Readings
  14. 8. Walter Ralegh, The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana (1596) 145
  15. 9. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Tour Thro’ The Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–1727) 161
  16. 10. Samuel Johnson, A Voyage to Abyssinia (1735) 181
  17. 11. Thomas Pennant, Selected Works (1754–1804) 199
  18. 12. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, The Turkish Embassy Letters (1763) 213
  19. 13. James Boswell, Journals and Letters from his Grand Tour (1764–1765) 231
  20. 14. James Cook and George Forster, Journals and Travel Reports from Their “Voyage Round the World” (1777) 247
  21. 15. Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796) 267
  22. 16. Mariana Starke, Letters from Italy (1800) 297
  23. 17. Maria Graham, Travel Writing on India, Italy, Brazil, and Chile (1812–1824) 313
  24. 18. Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812–1818) 335
  25. 19. Anna Jameson, Selected Works (1826–1859) 357
  26. 20. Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle (1839) 373
  27. 21. Isabella Bird, Selected Works (1856–1899) 397
  28. 22. Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa (1897) and West African Studies (1899) 411
  29. 23. Vita Sackville-West, Selected Works (1926, 1928) 433
  30. 24. Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana (1937) 449
  31. 25. Freya Stark, Selected Works (1938–1988) 467
  32. 26. W. H. Auden, Journey to a War (1939) 485
  33. 27. V. S. Naipaul, Selected Works (1962–1998) 501
  34. 28. Dervla Murphy, Selected Works (1965–2015) 515
  35. 29. William Dalrymple, Selected Works (1989–1997) 535
  36. 30. Nicholas Crane, Two Degrees West (1999) and Great British Journeys (2007) 555
  37. 31. Robert Macfarlane, The Wild Places (2007) 575
  38. Index of Names and Works 595
  39. Index of Subjects and Places 609
  40. List of Contributors 617
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110498974-014

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Editors’ Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. 0. Introduction 1
  5. Part I: Systematic Questions
  6. 1. Periods of Travel Writing 11
  7. 2. Discourses of Travel Writing 31
  8. 3. Gender 55
  9. 4. Travel Writing and Translation 79
  10. 5. Practices and Purposes 95
  11. 6. Intertextual Travel Writing 113
  12. 7. The Market for Travel Writing 125
  13. Part II: Close Readings
  14. 8. Walter Ralegh, The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana (1596) 145
  15. 9. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Tour Thro’ The Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–1727) 161
  16. 10. Samuel Johnson, A Voyage to Abyssinia (1735) 181
  17. 11. Thomas Pennant, Selected Works (1754–1804) 199
  18. 12. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, The Turkish Embassy Letters (1763) 213
  19. 13. James Boswell, Journals and Letters from his Grand Tour (1764–1765) 231
  20. 14. James Cook and George Forster, Journals and Travel Reports from Their “Voyage Round the World” (1777) 247
  21. 15. Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796) 267
  22. 16. Mariana Starke, Letters from Italy (1800) 297
  23. 17. Maria Graham, Travel Writing on India, Italy, Brazil, and Chile (1812–1824) 313
  24. 18. Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812–1818) 335
  25. 19. Anna Jameson, Selected Works (1826–1859) 357
  26. 20. Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle (1839) 373
  27. 21. Isabella Bird, Selected Works (1856–1899) 397
  28. 22. Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa (1897) and West African Studies (1899) 411
  29. 23. Vita Sackville-West, Selected Works (1926, 1928) 433
  30. 24. Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana (1937) 449
  31. 25. Freya Stark, Selected Works (1938–1988) 467
  32. 26. W. H. Auden, Journey to a War (1939) 485
  33. 27. V. S. Naipaul, Selected Works (1962–1998) 501
  34. 28. Dervla Murphy, Selected Works (1965–2015) 515
  35. 29. William Dalrymple, Selected Works (1989–1997) 535
  36. 30. Nicholas Crane, Two Degrees West (1999) and Great British Journeys (2007) 555
  37. 31. Robert Macfarlane, The Wild Places (2007) 575
  38. Index of Names and Works 595
  39. Index of Subjects and Places 609
  40. List of Contributors 617
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