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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759)

by Laurence Sterne

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
7,4171091,117 (3.9)6 / 476
Introduction and Notes by Robert Folkenflik Rich in playful double entendres, digressions, formal oddities, and typographical experiments, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman "provoked a literary sensation when it first appeared in England in a series of volumes from 1759 to 1767. An ingeniously structured novel (about writing a novel) that fascinates like a verbal game of chess, "Tristram Shandy "is the most protean and playful English novel of the eighteenth century and a celebration of the art of fiction; its inventiveness anticipates the work of Joyce, Rushdie, and Fuentes in our own century. This Modern Library Paperback is set from the nine-volume first edition from 1759.… (more)
  1. 80
    Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Cecrow, ateolf)
    Cecrow: Spanish tale laced with humour, predates TS by 150 years.
  2. 40
    Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (Widsith)
    Widsith: The obvious companion book...funnier but less story-driven
  3. 30
    Jacques the Fatalist by Denis Diderot (fvenez)
  4. 20
    Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (laurapickle)
    laurapickle: Midnight's Children borrows much from Sterne (as well as many other novels!), reworking it into his Booker winning novel.
  5. 31
    Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais (ateolf)
  6. 10
    Ulysses by James Joyce (roby72)
  7. 10
    Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (roby72)
  8. 00
    The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (Crypto-Willobie)
  9. 00
    My Brother Was an Only Child by Jack Douglas (Bill-once)
    Bill-once: Sterne's work and style subtly suffuse Douglas'
  10. 00
    The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis (DieFledermaus)
  11. 01
    A Tale of A Tub by Jonathan Swift (Cecrow)
    Cecrow: Earlier influential work of satire, that also indulged in digression and lost its narrative.
  12. 01
    Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (uri-starkey)
AP Lit (93)
1750s (2)
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English (103)  Italian (2)  French (1)  Dutch (1)  Spanish (1)  All languages (108)
Showing 1-5 of 103 (next | show all)
Silliness. Stuff and nonsense.
Inspired, metatextual, unbeatable silliness. ( )
  therebelprince | May 1, 2023 |
Tediously brilliant. ( )
  mkfs | Aug 13, 2022 |
I'm trying to think of something nice to say, but I can't! This is a "novel" with chaotic form, sub-standard grammar, punctuation and spelling. Again, I don't know the author personally, but in this case he was long-winded. He digressed so much that I forgot what the point of the paragraph or even the sentence was--if there was a point. The entire novel was a series of digressions until I had no idea what the novel was about. It is advertised as "bawdy" humor, which I'm not opposed to--but nothing but downright trash here. Why oh why did I continue to read this? It's a compulsion to finish, I must S.T.O.P.! I thought certainly it would get better, after all, it's a classic! 735 pages ( )
  Tess_W | May 30, 2022 |
Jäi kesken toukokussa 2022. Jatkan ehdottomasti tilaisuuden tullen.
  RistoZ | May 19, 2022 |
It's great if you enjoy obscure satire and dick jokes. ( )
  amanda4242 | May 16, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 103 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (297 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Sterne, Laurenceprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Austen, JohnIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Baldessari, JohnIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Barker, PeterNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
BunburyCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Burnburys, Henry WilliamIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Chodowiecki, DanielIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cleland, T. M.Illustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Corinth, LovisIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Davis, LindseyForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dudgeon, NeilNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Evans, BergenIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Juva, KerstiTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Keating, JohnNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kis, NicholasDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Laboureur, Jean-ÉmileIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lam, EmilyIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lawrence, JohnIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lesser, AntonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Levi, CarloContributorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Marías, JavierTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
McCallion, DavidNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Melchiori, GiorgioForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Meo, AntonioTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Morley, ChristopherIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
New, JoanEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
New, MelvynEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pacey, StevenNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Patch.ThomasCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Petrie, GrahamEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Phelps, GilbertIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Portela, ManuelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Priestley, J.B.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ricks, ChristopherIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ritter, PaulNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Robb, BrianIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Robinson, James K.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ross, Ian CampbellEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rowohlt, HarryNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rowson, MartinIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Scarborough, AdrianNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Self, WillIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Troughton, DavidNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Watt, IanEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wheelwright, RowlandIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Work, James A.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
ταρασσει τους ἀνθρωπους οὐ τα πραγματα ἀλλα τα περι των πραγματων δογματα.

What stresses mankind is not things, but opinions about things --- Epictetus
Dedication
To the Right Honourable Mr. Pitt.

Sir,

Never poor Wight of a Dedicator had less hopes from his Dedication, than I have from this of mine; for it is written in a bye corner of the kingdom, and in a retir'd thatch'd house, where I live in a constant endeavour to fence against the infirmities of ill health, and other evils of life, by mirth; being firmly persuaded that every time a man smiles,—but much more so, when he laughs, it adds something to this Fragment of Life.

I humbly beg, Sir, that you will honour this book, by taking it—(not under your Protection,—it must protect itself, but)—into the country with you; where, if I am ever told, it has made you smile; or can conceive it has beguiled you of one moment's pain—I shall think myself as happy as a minister of state;—perhaps much happier than any one (one only excepted) that I have read or heard of.

I am, Great Sir, (and, what is more to your Honour) I am, Good Sir, Your
Well-wisher, and most humble Fellow-subject,

The Author.
First words
"I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me; had they duly considered how much depended upon what they were then doing; - that not only the production of a rational Being was concerned in it, but that possibly the happy formation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind; - and, for aught they knew to the contrary, even the fortunes of his whole house might take their turn from the humours and dispositions which were then uppermost: ---Had they duly weighed and considered all this, and proceeded accordingly, ---I am verily persuaded I should have made a quite different figure in the world from that in which the reader is likely to see me."
Quotations
and so long as a man rides his Hobby-Horse peaceably and quietly along the King's highway, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him, - pray, Sir, what have either you or I to do with it?
What is best to take out the fire? ... If it is in a tender part, and a part which can conveniently be wrapt up ... Send to the next printer, and trust your cure to a soft sheet of paper just come off the press - you need do nothing more than twist it round. - The damp paper has a refreshing coolness in it - and the oil and lamp-black with which the paper is so strongly impregnated, does the business.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
This is the original work by Laurence Sterne, not the graphic novel adaptation/commentary by Martin Rowson. It should not be combined with the Norton Critical Edition, nor with single volumes of a two or three volume set.
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Introduction and Notes by Robert Folkenflik Rich in playful double entendres, digressions, formal oddities, and typographical experiments, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman "provoked a literary sensation when it first appeared in England in a series of volumes from 1759 to 1767. An ingeniously structured novel (about writing a novel) that fascinates like a verbal game of chess, "Tristram Shandy "is the most protean and playful English novel of the eighteenth century and a celebration of the art of fiction; its inventiveness anticipates the work of Joyce, Rushdie, and Fuentes in our own century. This Modern Library Paperback is set from the nine-volume first edition from 1759.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
1908 German edition available online at The Hathi Trust:
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/...
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Penguin Australia

2 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0141439777, 0141199997

 

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