Context
Laurence Sterne
was born in 1713 in Ireland, the son of an army officer. After
graduating from Cambridge University, Sterne settled in Yorkshire and
remained in England for the remainder of his life. He became a
clergyman there, and then married a woman with whom he did not get
along. His two major novels, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman and A Sentimental Journey, were written near the end of his life. He died in March, 1768, at the age of 55.
Sterne wrote Tristram Shandy
between 1759 and 1767. The book was published in five separate
installments, each containing two volumes except the last, which
included only the final Volume 9. The numerous cliffhangers and
anticipations Sterne put in the closing chapters of each installment
are conventional features of serially published works, meant to arouse
curiosity and maintain interest in the volumes to come. Tristram Shandy
was enthusiastically received from the beginning, though it was also
criticized for being bawdy and indecent in its frank treatment of
sexual themes.
For its time,
the novel is highly unconventional in its narrative technique--even
though it also incorporates a vast number of references and allusions
to more traditional works. The title itself is a play on a novelistic
formula that would have been familiar to Sterne's contemporary readers;
instead of giving us the "life and adventures" of his hero, Sterne
promises us his "life and opinions." What sounds like a minor
difference actually unfolds into a radically new kind of narrative. Tristram Shandy bears little resemblance to the orderly and structurally unified novels (of which Fielding's Tom Jones
was considered to be the model) that were popular in Sterne's day. The
questions Sterne's novel raises about the nature of fiction and of
reading have given Tristram Shandy a particular relevance for twentieth century writers like Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett, and James Joyce.
© "Context" Santos, Matilda. SparkNote on Tristram Shandy. 1 Nov. 2008
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/tristram/context.html