ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the themes of desire, loss and absence, as they manifest themselves in William Morris Thackeray's periodical writings about France. France was the country of difference, moral, economical and political. It was close to London and gradually more accessible. Thackeray's awareness of this makes his analysis of French culture also a self-exploration. The relationship between traveller and subject is internalized far more in the French articles than, for instance, the travel books to Ireland or Cairo. The Paris Sketch-Book and the articles for Fraser's, the Corsair, and Britannia during 1841 offer an intriguing insight into the transforming image of the magazine writer at a significant moment in his life and career. Thackeray's confidence as a travel writer grew enormously during this period. The publication of 'the immortal Paris Sketch-Book' was more important to him than the reception of Comic Tales and Sketches a year later.