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Reading ‘Voyages and Travels’: Jane West, Patriotism and the Reformation of Female Sensibility

Reading ‘Voyages and Travels’: Jane West, Patriotism and the Reformation of Female Sensibility Richard De Ritter Keywords: Jane West, gender, education, travel literature, sensibility, patriotism You are just setting out on a voyage, which must terminate either in satisfaction and hope, or in misery and despair. Jane West, Letters Addressed to a Young Man1 In her Letters Addressed to a Young Man (1801), the novelist and conduct writer Jane West employs the Christian metaphor of life as a ‘voyage’ into unknown territories replete with ‘tempests of adversity’, ‘destructive whirlpools’, ‘rocks and quicksands’ (LYM, i. 21).2 According to West, these hazardous obstacles can be successfully negotiated provided individuals undertake ‘employment’ and ‘wholesome exercise’ (LYM, iii. 295, 296). A similar emphasis upon the virtues of hard work recurs throughout the Letters. In this instance, however, West’s argument takes an unexpected turn, as she proceeds from extolling the salutary influence of ‘wholesome exercise’ (LYM, iii. 296) to discussing the heroic feats of those employed in ‘laborious and dangerous’ occupations (LYM, iii. 297). The metaphor of life as a voyage is introduced only to be overshadowed by its literal referent, as West comes to reflect upon the activities of ‘sea-faring people’: Do not suppose that a person’s lot must be miserable because you think that http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Romanticism Edinburgh University Press

Reading ‘Voyages and Travels’: Jane West, Patriotism and the Reformation of Female Sensibility

Ritter, Richard De
Romanticism , Volume 17 (2): 240 – Jul 1, 2011
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References (4)

Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press 2011
Subject
Literary Studies
ISSN
1354-991X
eISSN
1750-0192
DOI
10.3366/rom.2011.0027
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Richard De Ritter Keywords: Jane West, gender, education, travel literature, sensibility, patriotism You are just setting out on a voyage, which must terminate either in satisfaction and hope, or in misery and despair. Jane West, Letters Addressed to a Young Man1 In her Letters Addressed to a Young Man (1801), the novelist and conduct writer Jane West employs the Christian metaphor of life as a ‘voyage’ into unknown territories replete with ‘tempests of adversity’, ‘destructive whirlpools’, ‘rocks and quicksands’ (LYM, i. 21).2 According to West, these hazardous obstacles can be successfully negotiated provided individuals undertake ‘employment’ and ‘wholesome exercise’ (LYM, iii. 295, 296). A similar emphasis upon the virtues of hard work recurs throughout the Letters. In this instance, however, West’s argument takes an unexpected turn, as she proceeds from extolling the salutary influence of ‘wholesome exercise’ (LYM, iii. 296) to discussing the heroic feats of those employed in ‘laborious and dangerous’ occupations (LYM, iii. 297). The metaphor of life as a voyage is introduced only to be overshadowed by its literal referent, as West comes to reflect upon the activities of ‘sea-faring people’: Do not suppose that a person’s lot must be miserable because you think that

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Romanticism – Edinburgh University Press

Published: Jul 1, 2011

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