Overview
Tristram Shandy is a novel that repeatedly refuses to become the novel it appears to promise. Tristram announces that he will tell the story of his life, then becomes distracted before he can properly begin.
This title is catalogued in Classics & Literature. Its reading profile is Medium and Moderate, with themes including literature, ideas, psychology, self development, emotion.
One-Page Summary
Tristram Shandy is a novel that repeatedly refuses to become the novel it appears to promise. Tristram announces that he will tell the story of his life, then becomes distracted before he can properly begin. Laurence Sterne turns digression into the main event. Birth, family history, conversations, military anecdotes, philosophy, jokes, arguments, typography, and memories all interrupt one another until the act of storytelling becomes the subject itself. The narrator cannot control his own narrative because human consciousness does not proceed neatly. A thought leads to a memory, the memory to another story, and suddenly the original point has disappeared.
Characters such as Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim become more vivid through these interruptions than they might have been in a conventional plot because Sterne allows personality to emerge through repetition and obsession. The result is comic, experimental, philosophical, and surprisingly modern. The book asks whether anyone can actually tell a life in a straight line.
Key Themes
Literature: This title is tagged with literature as one of its main themes.
Ideas: This title is tagged with ideas as one of its main themes.
Psychology: This title is tagged with psychology as one of its main themes.
Self development: This title is tagged with self development as one of its main themes.
Emotion: This title is tagged with emotion as one of its main themes.