The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

by Laurence Sterne, Melvyn New (Editor), Joan New (Editor)

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 · rating details · 7,321 ratings · 521 reviews

Laurence Sterne's great masterpiece of bawdy humour and rich satire defies any attempt to categorize it. Part novel, part digression, its gloriously disordered narrative interweaves the birth and life of the unfortunate "hero" Tristram Shandy, the eccentric philosophy of his father Walter, the amours and military obsessions of Uncle Toby, and a host of other characters, in...more

Paperback, 588 pages

Published May 27th 2003 by Penguin Classics (first published 1759)

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Jan 08, 2013 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

NICHOLAS PARSONS: Welcome to "Just A Minute!"

THEME MUSIC

NP: Thank you, thank you, hello, my name is Nicholas Parsons. And as the Minute Waltz fades away once more it is my pleasure to welcome our many listeners, not only in this country but throughout the world. But also to welcome to the show this week four highly talented and individual players of this game. And once again they're going to show their invention, their verbal dexterity and their creative ingenuity as they speak on a subject th...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Isabel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Is it not a shame to make two chapters of what passed in going down one pair of stairs? for we are got no further yet than to the first landing, and there are fifteen more steps down to the bottom; and for aught I know, as my father and my uncle Toby are in a talking humour there may be as many chapters as steps; - let that be as it will, Sir, I can no more help it than my destiny:

Tristram Shandy is one of my father's favourite books and he passed this copy onto me about four years ago. Two days...more Is it not a shame to make two chapters of what passed in going down one pair of stairs? for we are got no further yet than to the first landing, and there are fifteen more steps down to the bottom; and for aught I know, as my father and my uncle Toby are in a talking humour there may be as many chapters as steps; - let that be as it will, Sir, I can no more help it than my destiny:

Tristram Shandy is one of my father's favourite books and he passed this copy onto me about four years ago. Two days after I started it, I found out that a film (starring Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon and Gillian Anderson) has just been made of this notoriously unfilmable novel and has been getting rave reviews at film festivals. It's due out here in the New Year, so reading the book now was really very good timing.

The shaggy dog story to end all shaggy dog stories. Supposedly the autobiography of Tristram Shandy, it is really a novel about novel-writing and how a novel can't really hope to represent real life. Hardly a chapter goes by without yet another digression from the main story, as Tristram decides that we really need to know some other bit of background before he can continue with the action, and he only gets round to the author's preface towards the end of volume 3! It is a very funny book but quite heavy going, what with the 18th century language and the plethora of technical terms to do with siege-works causing continual flicking to the notes at the back of the book, so it has taken me getting on for four weeks to read.

Favourite character: The wonderfully enthusiastic and sweet-natured Captain Shandy (Tristram's Uncle Toby).

Most frustrating digression: Tristram's trip to France, which has nothing to do with the story and takes up the whole of Volume VII, just as he seems on the point of finally getting round to telling the story of Uncle Toby's relationship with widow Wadman.

Best use of asterisks: The maid Susanna, who has forgotten to put a ******* *** under the five-year-old Tristram's bed, asking him to **** *** ** *** ******.(less)

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Apr 07, 2008 ba rated it 4 of 5 stars

To be honest, I never heard of this book before the film came out last year. My wife heard an NPR report on the film, and they used the terms Post-Modern and Unfilmable so many times that she knew I would be interested. We saw the film and liked it. I finally picked upthe book and read it, expecting a challenging work that would yield some intellectual dividends if I could just plow through it somehow. In actuality, the book was a very fun read. It did indeed have the foreshadowings of postmoder...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Kyle Muntz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In context, this is probably the most revolutionary book ever written. (Though, like usual when it comes to history, I think Sterne meant something very different by the techniques he used here than we perceive today.) It's immensely difficult--I can't remember the last time I struggled this much with a book, mainly because of the 18th century mechanics. The book is profound, wide-ranging, and very funny; and also, unlike all the other 18th century fiction, it seems progressive ideologically, in...more

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Aug 01, 2009 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, postmodern

As its title suggests, the book is ostensibly Tristram's narration of his life story. But central to the novel is the theme of not explaining anything simply, thus there are explanatory diversions to add context and colour to his tale, to the extent that we do not even reach Tristram's own birth until Volume III. However, beginning the narrative before one has been born is not unique in literature, for example see the opening chapter of David Copperfield. Consequently, apart from Tristram as nar...more As its title suggests, the book is ostensibly Tristram's narration of his life story. But central to the novel is the theme of not explaining anything simply, thus there are explanatory diversions to add context and colour to his tale, to the extent that we do not even reach Tristram's own birth until Volume III. However, beginning the narrative before one has been born is not unique in literature, for example see the opening chapter of David Copperfield. Consequently, apart from Tristram as narrator, the most familiar and important characters in the book are his father Walter, his mother, his Uncle Toby, Toby's servant Trim, and a supporting cast of minor characters including Doctor Slop and the parson Yorick (no doubt inspired by Shakespeare).

Most of the action is concerned with domestic upsets or misunderstandings, which find humour in the opposing temperaments of Walter—splenetic, rational and somewhat sarcastic—and Uncle Toby, who is gentle, uncomplicated and a lover of his fellow man. "The long-nosed Stranger of Strasburg": Book IV opens with a story from one of Walter's favourite books, a collection of stories in Latin about noses.

There is also Tristram's education as we discussed our continuing reading we encountered the following statement:
"The first thing which entered my father’s head […] was to sit down coolly, after the example of Xenophon, and write a TRISTRA-poedia, or system of education for me…" (Vol 2, p 144).
Yes. Tristram was describing his father's attempt to collect "his own scattered thoughts, counsels, and notions", to provide an "Institute" for his education through childhood and adolescence. This activity demonstrating some of that sort of practical advice that represents the Xenophon who I have read and who was described so eloquently in a recent lecture I attended. Just as Walter Shandy had studied Xenophon and chose to pass on some of his wisdom to his son Tristram we too may continue to benefit from the lessons of this Greek author and thinker.

In between such events, Tristram as narrator finds himself discoursing at length on sexual practices, insults, the influence of one's name, noses, as well as explorations of obstetrics, siege warfare and philosophy, as he struggles to marshal his material and finish the story of his life. Here is Sterne on writing:

"Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation. As no one, who knows what he is about in good company, would venture to talk all;--so no author, who understands the just boundaries of decorum and good-breeding, would presume to think all: The truest respect which you can pay the reader's understanding is to halve this matter amicably, and leave him something to imagine in turn, as well as yourself.
For my own part, I am eternally paying him compliments of this kind, and do all that lies in my power to keep his imagination as busy as my own." (Chapter XXXVI, pp 117-118)

What makes this novel remarkable is the seeming modernity of the technique and style. As with Rabelais, Sterne does not follow the "rules" for writing a novel, thus one encounters multiple allusions to other writers and their works and interjections of many kinds into the novel so that you begin to wonder what kind of book this is. Sterne was particularly influenced by Rabelais and his bawdy humor is no doubt due in part to that influence. This is not an easy read but one worth taking in small sections, a bit at a time. Having read Tristram Shandy you may be ready for twenty-first century post-modern literature or you may want to hang up the idea of literature altogether. (less)

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Jul 22, 2008 Melissa Rudder rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: master-s-exam

I am shocked at the drastic change of my opinion on The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne. After I read it a mere three years ago, I swore I would take my MA Exam without rereading it to avoid undergoing such torture a second time. I gave it one star on goodreads. Having forgotten everything about the novel (aside from my distaste for it), I had to reread it for the exam. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wrote "ha!" in the margins more than I have in any other book. I laughed...more

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Apr 18, 2007 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Only the hardcore literates

Each time I read this novel (and yes, I have slogged through it more than once) I am struck by the brilliance of Sterne. Many have recognized his writing as far before its time and indeed a great deal of the novel focuses on the purpose of language and literature and Sterne uses black pages, marbled pages, and squiggly lines to show how words sometimes cannot explain what you need to explain.
Additionally, the novel is Tristram's attempt to tell his life story while still living his life, a fact...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Ursula rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, england

I've wrestled with what to write about Tristram Shandy since I finished it. It isn't a book you can sum up very well, and the most entertaining bits of it are best found on your own, I think.

So I'll just say this: it's not as hard to read as you might think. The language takes some getting used to, and I read it at a pace of 20-30 pages a day. But you do acclimate to it and get into a rhythm. And yes, it's full of digressions and stories within stories and soliloquies about battles and fortifica...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Dan Risch rated it 5 of 5 stars

TS is one of my favourite books. It bears repeat reading fantastically, and to me has acted like a sort of literary touchstone. By this I mean that after reading the text, I wanted to find out whether Tristram/Sterne's reading influences were worth reading. I have consequently read Rabelais, Cervantes and various 18th Century travel lit.

Favourite character by far is Uncle Toby. His kindness and morality remain unchanged through the book, and his courtship of (by) the Widow Wadman is remarkably...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Denise rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, fiction, owned, related-media

Whew! Bottomless pits, all-you-can-eat buffets, neverending story, Ah! That's the one I was looking for. What a great big bunch of hooey! Reading it reminded me of cramming for tests in college. Staying up all night, drinking two or three pots of coffee, trying to retain consciousness and all the while jittering so bad inside and being sick to your stomach.

I wanted to read the book after seeing the film "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story." It was so bizarre that I just had to read the book...more

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Apr 08, 2007 Nicole rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: self-loving rhetorical theorists

The fundamental failing of Tristram Shandy is exactly what makes it great literature. It attempts to reflect the chaotic nature of art and the impossibility of controlling it, much in the same way "life" cannot be controlled (as art mirrors life, blah blah). To do so, however, Sterne uses constant diversions from his main storyline; this wouldn't be a problem if the diversions weren't SO DAMN BORING. I appreciated what he's trying to do after seeing the 2006 film adaptation with Rob Brydon and S...more

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Jun 13, 2013 James rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

CHAPTER XLVII

Had this volume been a farce, which, unless everyone's life and opinions are to be looked upon as a farce as well as mine, I see no reason to suppose — the last chapter, Sir, had finished the first act of it, and then this chapter must have set it off thus.

Ptr..r..r..ing—twing—twang—prut—trut—'tis a cursed bad fiddle.—Do you know whether my fiddle's in tune or no?—trut..prut..—They should be fifths.—'Tis wickedly strung-tr...a.e.i.o.u.—twang.—The bridge is a mile too high, and the s...more CHAPTER XLVII

Had this volume been a farce, which, unless everyone's life and opinions are to be looked upon as a farce as well as mine, I see no reason to suppose — the last chapter, Sir, had finished the first act of it, and then this chapter must have set it off thus.

Ptr..r..r..ing—twing—twang—prut—trut—'tis a cursed bad fiddle.—Do you know whether my fiddle's in tune or no?—trut..prut..—They should be fifths.—'Tis wickedly strung-tr...a.e.i.o.u.—twang.—The bridge is a mile too high, and the sound-post absolutely down,—else—trut..prut—hark! 'tis not so bad a tone.—Diddle diddle, diddle diddle, diddle diddle, dum. There is no thing in playing before good judges,—but there's a man there—no—not him with the bundle under his arm—the grave man in black.—S'death! not the gentleman with the sword on.—Sir, I had rather play a Caprichio to Calliope herself, than draw my bow across my fiddle before that very man; and yet, I'll stake my Cremmona to a Jew's trump, which is the greatest musical odds that were ever laid, that I will this moment stop three hundred & fifty leagues out of tune upon my fiddle, without punishing one single nerve that belongs to him.—Twaddle diddle, tweddle diddle,—twiddle diddle,—twoddle diddle,—twuddle diddle,—prut trut—kirsh—krash—krush—.I've undone you, Sir,—but you see he's no worse,—and was Apollo to take his fiddle after me, he can make him no better.

Diddle diddle, diddle diddle, diddle diddle—hum—dum—drum.

—Your worships and your reverences love music—and God has made you all with good ears—and some of you play delightfully yourselves—trut-prut,—prut-trut. O! there is—whom I could sit and hear whole days,—whose talents lie in making what he fiddles to be felt,—who inspires me with his joys and hopes, and outs the most hidden springs of my heart into motion.—If you would borrow five guineas of me, Sir,—which is generally ten guineas more than I have to spare—or you, Messrs. Apothecary and Taylor, want your bills paying,—that's your time.(less)

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May 24, 2013 Alan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sterne invented a certain kind of modernity--the sexually allusive, apparently offhand, discontinuous, immediate....His prose, often written
under the burden of tuberculosis, and even the despair of his wife, achieves an appearance that is genial and carefree. Uncle Toby is one of the great characters in English fiction.
Sterne confesses that the more he writes, the further behind in the story he gets. A wonderful concept, and true for an expansive mind like his.
One can think of others for whom...more

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May 07, 2013 Bjorn rated it 3 of 5 stars

To those who are unfamiliar with the plot, it can be summed up in three little words: "But I digress." The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman has precious little of Tristram's life or opinions, and makes it doubtful whether he's much of a gentleman - in fact, it often strikes me how much more bawdy, dirty and, well, uninhibitedly fun 18th century literature is than it would be during Victorian times. Not that I'm an expert, but between Swift, Rabelais, Bellman, Voltaire and Sterne I...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Stephen Fothergill rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have recently completed reading The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne. Now that I’ve finished it, I feel like I’ve lost a good friend, and I’m definitely going to read it again, when I can raise the stamina. It is such a great novel that it seems sacrilegious of me to be writing an opinion of it. But as I want others to read it, too, then I must say what a truly wonderful work it is.
Great works of English literature are often difficult to read, particularly th...more I have recently completed reading The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne. Now that I’ve finished it, I feel like I’ve lost a good friend, and I’m definitely going to read it again, when I can raise the stamina. It is such a great novel that it seems sacrilegious of me to be writing an opinion of it. But as I want others to read it, too, then I must say what a truly wonderful work it is.
Great works of English literature are often difficult to read, particularly those of the 18th and 19th centuries, and Sterne provides quite a challenge in Tristram Shandy. The arcane language can be a trial at times, particularly when several contemporaneous words don’t appear in modern dictionaries. I’m not widely read when it comes to 18th century novels, in fact, I think I can count the ones that I have read on the fingers of one hand. However, the ones I have read, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, and The History of Tom Jones, are all classics, by brilliant writers, and Laurence Sterne deserves to be ranked alongside them.

The book is stupendously well written, funny, poignant, affectionate, the adjectives are endless. I can’t describe the plot, because there isn’t one, as such. The bulk of the prose is a commentary upon discussions that take place within the Shandy household whilst our hero, Tristram, is undergoing his birth. That it takes almost three hundred pages before he finally emerges, gives an idea of how much discussion there is. But don’t let that deter anyone from reading it. It is a long time since I read any novel, never mind one written over two hundred years ago, that quite literally caused me to laugh out loud. Henry Fielding almost did with Tom Jones, but Sterne’s comedic scenes reduced me to head shaking hilarity on several occasions. Just thinking about those sequences now, gives me the lovely warm feeling in my stomach that I get when I’m heartily amused.

Sterne’s brilliant mastery and use of the English language is magnificent. However, his style of writing is long dead, and comparing it between modern fictional writing, is equivalent to comparing the paintings of Thomas Gainsborough to those of David Hockney. I love both artists, but I doubt that we shall ever again see Gainsborough’s technique copied or recreated, despite in his time being as outstanding and original as Hockney was (and still is). However, contemporary artists can learn much from a study of Gainsborough, and likewise as a new writer, I too have already learned a lot from Sterne’s writing. He is worth reading from the educational aspect alone. An additional bonus can be had by obtaining an edition containing the illustrations of George Cruikshank. They are magnificent, and works of art in their own right.

Tristram Shandy is far from an easy novel to read, and is probably why it is not as widely known as other eighteenth century classics. However, it is a book I look forward to reading again. The first time has been, quite simply, life enhancing.
(less)

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May 22, 2012 Alan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Diggers of antiquity and tilters at verbal windmills

Recommended to Alan by: The latter-day film of this unfilmable book

This enormous, sprawling, exuberant proto-novel is all the more amazing for having been written and first published more than two centuries ago—Tristram Shandy is older than the United States, in fact, by a small but significant margin, and some might say it's holding up rather better. I was introduced to Laurence Sterne's novel via the film of this unfilmable book—Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005)—which, despite some significant flaws, turns out to be a fairly good introduction. The...more

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May 14, 2012 Smcleish rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in August 1999.

It is difficult to know where to begin in describing Sterne's famous work, as many commentators have remarked. It is not really a novel, such plot as it has being far too loosely structured for that. It purports to be an autobiography, but by the end of it we still know hardly anything of the life of Tristram Shandy. (Apart from scattered remarks, all we get are descriptions of the day of his birth, a day when he suffered an accident at the age...more Originally published on my blog here in August 1999.

It is difficult to know where to begin in describing Sterne's famous work, as many commentators have remarked. It is not really a novel, such plot as it has being far too loosely structured for that. It purports to be an autobiography, but by the end of it we still know hardly anything of the life of Tristram Shandy. (Apart from scattered remarks, all we get are descriptions of the day of his birth, a day when he suffered an accident at the age of five, and a trip through France. We aren't even told enough to be definite whether the woman Jenny, mentioned in several places, is his wife or not.) In describing his opinions, the title is rather more accurate, though we probably get more of the opinions of Tristram's father than of Tristram himself.

I suppose Tristram Shandy is basically a parody of the memoirs of an eighteenth century gentleman. It is hilariously funny in places, though it requires some concentration to catch the jokes - I know a couple of people who found it impossible to get into. It certainly pays to keep a finger in the notes at the back of a copy, unless you speak Latin and Greek and are familiar with a vast range of literature from the classical period onwards, and know a fair amount about the wars of the early eighteenth century.

Tristram Shandy's importance in the development of the novel was in its narrative style, which prefigures many of the experimental writers of the twentieth century. It is not really concerned with the subject that it is meant to be about - which is why we learn so little of Shandy's actual life - but instead it is about whatever takes the fancy of the supposed author. It is full of digressions, imagined conversations with readers and critics, and Shandy as narrator gives a convincing impression of disorganised brilliance. Sterne, of course, has to be far more disciplined, so that Shandy never steps out of character. In an odd sort of irony, in fact, we are totally conscious of Shandy as narrator but never really aware of Sterne as his puppeteer.

This structure is meant to give us insight into the mind of Shandy, and is a direct precursor of one of the most important literary styles of the twentieth century, stream of consciousness. The book is full of conversations with readers and commentary on what is going on (statements like "I promise that the chapter on buttons will be written eventually, but I must give you the chapter on chambermaids first"). This may seem a little arch (though fashionably post-modernist) to our tastes today, but it can be very funny.

The work in the canon of English literature which is perhaps most like Tristram Shandy is Joyce's Ulysses. Both are universal in scope (Ulysses more subtly so) though apparently parochial; both establish a complex relationship between writer and reader. Both are funny and bawdy, though Tristram Shandy lacks something of the serious and pessimistic nature of Leopold Bloom; one is a product of the eighteenth century, the other of the twentieth.(less)

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Mar 27, 2012 Jeremy added it

Shelves: british-literature

I wanted to like this, I really did. Sterne is a hugely inventive, hugely capable writer. Maybe he doesn't go in for the batshit linguistic free-for-all that people like James Joyce do, but he is every bit as bizarre and technically innovative. You could recognize one of his wildly digressive, over-mannered sentences in a heartbeat. But I still couldn't stand Tristam Shandy. Not because it's 'bad' per se, (parts of it are extremely engaging and genuinely funny in a way that basically no writing...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Katherine Meyer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tristram Shandy is definitely a worthwhile read. I'd be lying if I said I loved it or that it's my favorite book ever, but I definitely enjoyed and appreciated it. I love 18th-century cultural history, although I have truthfully read very little fiction out of that era (The Vicar of Wakefield is my favorite 18th-century novel), and I was eager to read Tristram Shandy, since I knew it was a wildly popular novel for many, many years after it was published. It is not the easiest novel to digest, ha...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Brittanymurray rated it 4 of 5 stars

There are very few books that I really, really, really dislike, but this is one. Granted, I haven't read it in a few years. Correction: I have never actually made it all the way through this book. I was assigned to read a portion of it in a British novels course, and even the professor had trouble justifying its value to us.
I tried valiantly. I read a lot more than the assigned bits, but I still found it to be the most effective sleep aid I've ever discovered.
Part of my dislike for it stems fr...more

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Jul 20, 2011 Rebecca rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

This is the Seinfeld of classic literature.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. The conceit is incredibly modern (or perhaps post-modern--I feel like if someone did this today, the critics would fawn all over him/her, which is kind of ridiculous given that this book's over 250 years old). Many of the lines are genuinely funny. Sterne is exceedingly clever (and knows it).

However, the fact that I was literally unable to read this book unless I was standing without falling asleep I think indic...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Douglas Dalrymple rated it 5 of 5 stars

If we could measure out precisely how much Sterne owed to Rabelais, to Cervantes, to Robert Burton (and how much he borrowed from them, word for word, when it suited), it would make him the greatest literary debtor of his era. But these are the sort of debts that work to one’s credit. When Sterne asks somewhere midway in Tristam Shandy, “Shall we forever make new books, as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring out of one vessel into another?” I can only reply that if the results are as joyf...more

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Aug 28, 2009 Justin Evans rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I wonder what Sterne would have thought of all the theorising about this book? The introduction to this volume claims that we should read 'Shandy' because it will help us avoid the 'rationalism' of 'totalitarianism' of the twentieth century; that we are too much like Mrs Wadman, who wants to know if Uncle Toby has a penis or not. We should leave the fortress unpenetrated, the mystery unrevealed, the riddle unsolved.
Of course, this idiocy is exactly what Sterne was writing against- not against r...more

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Nov 04, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, art-or-illustrated, pre-1900s, sassysassenachs, voluminous

This edition from Visual Editions expands upon, or at least emphasises, the typographical fancies Sterne deployed for his maddening nine-book digressive epic. Combining black and red font effects (all the dashes and chapter titles are in red), with unique artistic stunts (the infamous black page is replaced by a strikethrough design, various font frolics are exaggerated in amusing ways, and one page includes a ‘moisture’ effect using semi-laminate bubbles over the text), the book isn’t perhaps a...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1700s-1800s, books-about-writers, classics, masters-exams, humor

This book is at times hilarious, and all the other times, boring. Probably the most accurate phrase would be "hot mess." This is a book about snubbing conventions and does not even attempt to construct a linear narrative. The narrator becomes distracted by context so much so that in his supposed autobiography he isn't even born until the third volume (three hundred pages in). It is ridiculous. But, you gotta appreciate a book that opens with a guy describing his own conception. His parents are t...more

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Jun 08, 2013 Andrew Walter rated it 4 of 5 stars

For those worrying about this being a difficult book-I needed two bookmarks, one for the main body of text and one for the notes. If your knowledge of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, medicine since the days of Aristotle and 18th century slang for the pudenda is on point you'll probably be able to breeze through with just the one.

That said, it is-like Don Quixote, one of Sterne's many unabashed reference points-a blast to read, because it is a very funny book, and you can practically feel the aut...more For those worrying about this being a difficult book-I needed two bookmarks, one for the main body of text and one for the notes. If your knowledge of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, medicine since the days of Aristotle and 18th century slang for the pudenda is on point you'll probably be able to breeze through with just the one.

That said, it is-like Don Quixote, one of Sterne's many unabashed reference points-a blast to read, because it is a very funny book, and you can practically feel the authors elbow in your ribs throughout. As 30 seconds of reading on google or your other favourite info-behemoth will tell you, it's at root a fictional autobiography, with the running joke being that the titular character can't resist constantly digressing, and so we don't really get his life story.

So we get excellent sketches of the characters on the periphery of Shandy's life instead, as well as half-apologetic little asides on whatever he happens to be thinking about at the moment. Shandy's father is basically a hyper-well-read blowhard with hypotheses about every subject in the multiverse, and Uncle Toby is a dim, sweet-natured military enthusiast who can bend any topic to fortifications or artillery. The conversational slapstick between these two is much of the comedy here, and it never gets old. I'll let you discover the rest of the quirky cast when you read it, but they're all interesting at the least. The important thing is that between these two and the narrator, Sterne is able to use the power of rambling to turn this into one of those "universal books" that he admires so much.

Now despite this, I don't think Sterne quite encapsulates as much as Cervantes does. I know-because the introduction told me so-that much of the book can be seen as a satire of 'learned wit': that is, meandering pontifications on arbitrary facets of learning to impress your equally educated friends with the sesquipedality of your reading material (see). In Don Quixote you can see a little of this, but there's an everymannish quality to the humour. Tristram Shandy felt a lot less inclusive to me-almost like a surreal drawing room comedy or something. So perhaps it doesn't seem to mean all things to all men in quite the same way. It's more "highbrow" while at the same time sending up that attitude-something about this slightly bugged me, but I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it wasn't quite filthy enough (Shandy is quite annoyingly coy, asterixing the **** out of most references to ***, ****, and ***** ******, even if it is for comedic purposes) but then he was a clergyman.

That's not to say there's aren't some real thought provoking themes-Tristram's dad is determined to raise his child with the most important bases of knowledge covered, and so sets to work on the Tristapedia. It's a compendium of everything A Growing Adult Should Know, but is itself so comprehensive that Shandy Sr can't have it ready for the respective ages it would benefit his son. This echoes the way Tristram realises he won't have a chance of encapsulating his life in a book that can't even cover anything beyond his birth and accidental circumcision. There's also some interesting contrapuntal ideas about knowledge, with Uncle Toby needleslly having tunnel vision-photographic memory, even-of one subject, and Walter Shandy knowing about almost everything but not being able to implement any of it.

This review does seem to be becoming as rambling and unconnected as the book, a cliche in itself. To close, I'd say every criticism of this book is as valid as the accolades. Everyone I discussed this book with rolled their eyes as I mentioned it, and most had given up on it. Shady's tone can be annoying and the language is a bit arch, but then this is what the book is! Relax and go along for the ride, and (if this is possible) expect to be surprised by the ideas it gives you. Perhaps they surprised Sterne himself.

NB I haven't read it, but I really cannot see the point of the "Visual Editions" version of this. It seems to be used as an excuse to graphic design it into a coffee table book. Tristram Shandy was pioneering in its use of "this page intentionally left blank" and oddball page designs, and it doesn't need to be modernized. I'll eat my Montero hat if anyone reads the book for the first time in this edition. (less)

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Aug 10, 2010 Chrissy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, experimental, humor, life-changing, made-me-laugh-out-loud, read-for-school, saw-the-movie, wonderfully-witty, favorites, satire, british

Absolutely brilliant and almost unthinkably ahead of its time. Considered the father of stream of consciousness writing, this challenging, witty, tangential masterpiece explores the insurmountable unknowability of a person, the futility of truly telling a life's story, and the associative and seemingly random nature of memory and thought. Its format is unconventional for our time, let alone 18th century England-- the book makes abrupt and drastic shifts in time and place, in character, and in wr...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Tristram rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-english-literature, favourites

Of Noses and Names (But Also of Groins, Whiskers and Button-Holes - Yet Most of All, of Cocks and Bulls)

Laurence Sterne's magnificent novel "The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" is least of all about the life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, as the title might suggest, for it begins on the day Tristram was begotten and ends with a conversation that took place about four years before he was born. Instead the book deals with Walter Shandy (Tristram's father)'s theories on pretty...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Giovaennchen Lozano rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

¡Qué literatura de la onda ni qué nada! Este libro ha sido de los más impresionantes que he leído. Su autor, Laurence Sterne se adelantó 3 siglos a su tiempo, escribiendo una obra graciosa, fantasiosa y bastante sicodélica. Me encantó. Era la época en que los libros se escribían por entregas, y la primera de éste salió en 1759. Trata la vida, aparentemente de un caballero inglés, de nombre Tristram Shandy, a quien el destino, desde su nacimiento le iba a traer venturas y desventuras muy extrañas...more

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May 24, 2011 Bev Hankins added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who likes stream of consciousness

Recommended to Bev by: Richard Nash

Shelves: classic-lit, fiction, 18th-c

Pardon me a moment while I do a little victory dance...I'm done with Tristram Shandy!!!!!!!

OMG. Was there ever such a book? I am pleased as all get out that I can say that I'm done with the thing. It's behind me and I'll never be tempted to pick it up again.

What is Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne about you might ask--and well you might and maybe if you ever read it you might figure it out better than I; because I, well, I got all distracted by the INCREDIBLY long sentences and odd punctuation...more

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About Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne was an Irish-born English novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics. Sterne died in London after years of fighting consumption.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La ...more

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Books by Laurence Sterne

Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey (Modern Library)

A Sentimental Journey and Other Writings

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy -Vol I

Selected Prose and Letters. In two volumes. Volume 1

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“I begin with writing the first
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“Human nature is the same in all professions.” — 10 people liked it

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