History of a Six Weeks' Tour

Part of the new genre of the Romantic travel narrative, History of a Six Weeks' Tour exudes spontaneity and enthusiasm; the authors demonstrate their desire to develop a sense of taste and distinguish themselves from those around them.

However, the text's frank discussion of politics, including positive references to the French Revolution and praise of Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, was unusual for a travel narrative at the time, particularly one authored primarily by a woman.

[2] The trio travelled for six weeks, from 28 July to 13 September 1814, through France, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands (which is referred to as "Holland"); however, they were forced to return to England due to financial considerations.

Mary Godwin began writing what she assumed would be a short story, but with Percy Shelley's encouragement and collaboration, she expanded this tale into her first novel, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus.

The journal consists of edited entries from the joint diary that Percy and Mary Shelley kept during their 1814 trip to the Continent, specifically those from 28 July to 13 September 1814.

[c] When Mary turned to her own entries, however, she significantly revised them; according to Jeanne Moskal, the editor of the recent definitive edition of the Tour, "almost nothing of her original phrasing remains".

As Moskal writes, "the obvious inference is that they are literary versions of lost private epistles to Fanny Godwin", Mary Shelley's stepsister who remained in England and with whom she corresponded during the journey.

However, those who see the work as primarily a picturesque travel narrative argue that the descriptions of Alpine scenes would have been familiar to early nineteenth-century audiences and they would not have expected a poetic climax.

[26] The 1840 version of History of a Six Weeks' Tour has four major types of changes according to Moskal: "(i) modernization and correction of spelling, punctuation and French (ii) self-distancing from the familial relationship with Claire Clairmont (iii) a heightened sensitivity to national identity (iv) presentation of the travelers as a writing, as well as reading, circle".

"[33] "Mont Blanc" compares the sublime aspect of the mountain to the human imagination: The everlasting universe of things Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves, Now dark—now glittering—now reflecting gloom...

Through the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, Continental travel was considered educational: young, aristocratic gentlemen completed their studies by learning European languages abroad and visiting foreign courts.

[38] The Grand Tour was celebrated as educational travel when it involved exchanging scientific information with the intellectual elite, learning about other cultures, and preparing oneself to lead.

However, it was condemned as trivial when the tourist simply purchased curio collectibles, acquired a "superficial social polish", and pursued fleeting sexual relationships.

[38] During the Napoleonic Wars, the Continent was closed to British travellers and the Grand Tour came under increasing criticism, particularly from radicals such as William Godwin who scorned its aristocratic connections.

[38] Young Romantic writers criticised its lack of spontaneity; they celebrated Madame de Staёl's novel Corinne (1807), which depicts proper travel as "immediate, sensitive, and above all [an] enthusiastic experience".

in silver upon discount from one of the bankers in the city, and with this we resolved to journey towards the lake of Uri, and seek in that romantic and interesting country some cottage where we might dwell in peace and solitude.

As scholar Angela Jones contends, "Shelley may be said to figure herself as a more knowledgeable, disinterested English outsider capable of rendering impartial judgment"—an Enlightenment value.

The first describes the overturning of a boat and the drowning of its occupants; the second is a warning not to travel on foot through France, as Napoleon's army has just been disbanded and the women are in danger of rape.

[47] However, these traditional gender-genre associations are undercut by the implicit acknowledgment of Mary Shelley as the primary author, with her journal giving the entire work its name and contributing the bulk of the text.

During the 1790s, Mary Shelley's father, William Godwin, connected his support for the French Revolution with the romance tradition, specifically Don Quixote and any allusion to the novel would have signalled Godwinian radicalism to readers at the time.

[51] As Labbe argues, "it would appear that while [Shelley] seems to be industriously salting her narrative with romance in order, perhaps, to garner public approval, she also ... exposes the falsity of such a scheme.

A travel narrative that reflects on topography, politics, society, aesthetics, and the author's personal feelings, it provided a model for Mary Shelley's work.

Surveying the devastation caused by the Napoleonic Wars, Mary Shelley worries about how the British will handle Paris and grieves over the "ruin" brought to the small French town of Nogent by the Cossacks.

[48] Both Shelleys use their works in History of a Six Weeks' Tour to assess and evaluate the French Revolution, making it a highly political travel narrative.

[59][60] For example, she wrote of the French town Nogent: Nothing could be more entire than the ruin which these barbarians had spread as they advanced; perhaps they remembered Moscow and the destruction of the Russian villages; but we were now in France, and the distress of the inhabitants, whose houses had been burned, their cattle killed, and all their wealth destroyed, has given a sting to my detestation of war, which none can feel who have not travelled through a country pillaged and wasted by this plague, which, in his pride, man inflicts upon his fellow.

Percy Shelley discovered in April or May 1820 that there were no profits to pay the printer and when Charles Ollier, the co-publisher, went out of business in 1823, his inventory included 92 copies of the work.

[1] Still, Mary Shelley believed the work was successful, and when she proposed another travel narrative, Rambles in Germany and Italy, to publisher Edward Moxon in 1843, she wrote "my 6 weeks tour brought me many compliments".

[63] Although both works share the same fascination with Rousseau and his liberal ideas, only Hookham is attacked; as scholar Benjamin Colbert explains, "Shelley tends to remain on more neutral territory", such as the cult of sensibility and the novel Julie.

[63] However, the reviewer questions the authenticity of the work: "To us...the value of the book is considerably lessened by a strong suspicion that the dramatis personae are fictitious, and that the little adventures introduced for the purpose of giving life and interest to the narration, are the mere invention of the Author.

[65] The reviewer was most impressed with the journal section, particularly its informality and concision: "the perusal of it rather produces the same effect as a smart walk before breakfast, in company with a lively friend who hates long stories".

Page reads "History of a Six Weeks' Tour through a Part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland: with Letters Descriptive of a Sail Round the Lake of Geneva and of the Glaciers of Chamouni. By Percy Bysshe Shelley. London: Published by T. Hookham, Jun. Old Bond Street; and C. and J. Ollier, Welldeck Street. 1817."
Title page from History of a Six Weeks' Tour (1817), Thomas Hookham, Jr. and Charles and James Ollier, London.
Half-length oval portrait of a man wearing a black jacket and a white shirt, which is askew and open to his chest.
Percy Bysshe Shelley imbibed his radical philosophy from William Godwin 's Political Justice . ( Amelia Curran , 1819)
Photograph of a towering snow-covered mountain at right, a glacier at left, and a clear blue sky.
Mont Blanc and the Mer de Glace glacier were focal points of the Shelleys' 1816 journey.
Map charting the Shelleys' 1814 and 1816 tours throughout Europe.
The dotted line and red dots indicate towns visited on the 1814 European tour; the solid line and green dots indicate towns visited on the 1816 trip to Lake Geneva.
Half-length portrait of a woman wearing a black dress, sitting on a red sofa. Her dress is off the shoulder, exposing her shoulders. The brush strokes are broad.
Mary Shelley wrote of the 1814 trip that "it was acting in a novel, being an incarnate romance". [ 36 ] ( Richard Rothwell , 1840)
Left-looking portrait of a slightly pregnant woman in a white dress
The group read Mary Wollstonecraft 's Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark while on their 1814 tour, which subsequently influenced History of a Six Weeks' Tour .
Highly-detailed painting of a military figure charging uphill on a white horse. The man is wearing a blue jacket and pants and an orange cloak, and pointing upwards. The horse is rearing.
Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David (1801–05)
Full-length portrait of a woman sitting at a table, writing, and leaning on her hand. There are roses on the table, which is covered with a red, velvet cloth. She is wearing a dark green dress, which reveals her bosom. She has short, brown curls.
Comparing the liberal Lady Morgan to the writer of History of a Six Weeks' Tour , the Blackwood's Magazine reviewer favoured the writer of the Tour , apparently missing the liberal themes in Mary Shelley's writing. [ 62 ]