Laurence Sterne
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
A long classic and very strange novel. Written as if the narrative of Tristram who introduces us with his conception and then goes on a 500 page digression until his birth. Mostly about his argumentative father, seemingly acquiescent mother (although she isn't), amiable uncle and various other characters. Written and published over 8 years in installments in the mid 1700s it references and parodies many other novels and contemporary figures which either go over my head or I sometimes internet search references. However, the book covers mainly pretty standard human endeavours and ambitions (both good and bad) and therefore as relevant to us today as it was 300 years ago. London as a place that sucks everything out of the provinces is a current issue. It's pretty bawdy with a lot of references to sex and private parts, so to speak, either direct or double entendres or simply with a couple of lines of asterisks or blank spaces for you to guess the sentence ending or simply make up your own. And this is one of the oddities of the novel as as well as having lots of asterisks there are pages that are simply black or marbled. There are blank chapters which are filled in later in the novel. And example of a blank page is where he encourages us to draw your ideal woman ("as like your mistress as you can - as unlike your wife as your conscience will let you"). Sterne guesses our questions as readers and playfully engages those to explain that he'll complete that part of the plot later on, or not. So the novel talks to itself and is somewhat interactive. Which brings me to comparisons as that is similar to authors like Flann O'Brien who himself has written some pretty weird stuff but I think that this novel caps it all which is especially interesting given when it was written. Although I guess that Cervantes also wrapped Don Quixote around itself as a novel in the latter chapters. There is also a stream of consciousness at times similar to James Joyce and the beat writers such as William Burroughs. As I mentioned the digressions are massive across the whole book, the preface itself is 200 pages in, and also short(ish) and sharp such as taking five pages describing taking a handkerchief out of a pocket which I kept on wondering am I missing a hidden meaning here. One thing that I liked as that apparently Goths debated every point twice: when drunk for vigour and then sober or discretion which sounds like a good policy. Another example of the self reflection is the page that is a representation of the various volumes by lines with curves and back balloons as can be seen below. We do eventually get to hear a bit about Tristram's like apart from various childhood accidents right towards the end we hear about Tristram's travels through France but not for very long and mainly parodying travel guides. Overall a novel which demands a fair bit of focus at certain times but is well worth persevering. A novel like no other.
