Author
Laurence Sterne
Title
Letters of Yorick and Eliza, being the correspondence between Mrs Draper and Lawrence Sterne
Published
Edinburgh; V. Nivison, Macredie, Skellp and Muckersey, 1815
Location
826.6 FM3104
What is this book about?
These letters are from Eliza, who is Mrs Elizabeth Draper, to Yorick, who is a persona of Mr Sterne. In the letters she addressed Yorick as Bramin and Yorick soon signs the letters with Bramin. They detail their lives to each other and show their growing love for each other. Yorick is obsessed with her; tells her to write to him more and he says that he would give money to her husband just to spend time with her. At one point, he tells her off when she falls out with her friends; he tells her to be a better lady, she sets him straight and tells him that he has gotten it all wrong. These letters end with Eliza leaving for her home, India.
Why does this book matter?
This book is important because it shows a forbidden love story, where only half of it was true. Mrs Elizabeth Draper and Mr Sterne did send letters to each other, though only the letters from Mrs Draper were published, this must have been painful for Mrs Draper. These love letters are to and from a married woman, something that was rather scandalous at the time. It also gives a clear insight to Mrs Draper’s life, as most books were wrote by men and therefore something written from a women’s point of view is rare.
This blog post was written by Carenza Young.
