Thanks to Kerry at Hungry Like the Woolf for pointing to this post at Caustic Cover Critic on the Visual Editions' The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.
Additional pictures of the edition can be found at Virtual Editions' Flickr page (above photo from that page)
Virtual Edition's site on the book
I challenged myself this year to buy less than 10 books and I have a feeling this will be one in that number.
How far my pen has been fatigued like those of other travellers, in this journey of it, over so barren a track--the world must judge--but the traces of it, which are now all set o' vibrating together this moment, tell me 'tis the most fruitful and busy period of my life; for as I had made no convention with my man with the gun as to time--by stopping and talking to every soul I met who was not in a full trot--joining all parties before me--waiting for every soul behind--hailing all those who were coming through cross roads--arresting all kinds of beggars, pilgrims, fiddlers, fryars--not passing by a woman in a mulberry-tree without commending her legs, and tempting her into conversation with a pinch of snuff--In short, by seizing every handle, of what size or shape soever, which chance held out to me in this journey--I turn my plain into a city..."
-- Volume VII, Chapter 43
"(I)n using the stick, every one will take the handle which suits his convenience. In Tristram Shandy, the handle is taken which suits their passions, their ignorance or sensibility."
-- 1768 letter from Sterne to Dr. John Eustace
Many times when I finish a book I want to skip writing about it--I’m so “done” with it and feel I’ve lived with it long enough and want to move on to another work. That hasn’t been the feeling with Tristram Shandy. The book is enjoyable up to the last pages and the last three volumes are by far my favorite. The difficulty is choosing how to write about them, so I guess I’ll go straight (or as straight as Sterne does) through them.
Volume VII starts with Death visiting Tristram (mid-joke), so he flees by traveling to France. For a book that ties writing and life as well as promotes “life as a journey”, this volume pulls the themes together. As with the rest of the book, this parody of travel writing becomes one large digression. Tristram would rather describe the innkeeper’s daughter than the buildings and other architecture he sees, even if the buildings fare better with time. This volume contains some wonderful digressive stories, such as Amandus and Amanda and the ending chapter where Tristram carouses with Nannette. It's nothing new, but at the end Sterne seems to advocate sensuality for its own sake, realizing that joy and sorrow are two sides to the same coin that is man. Leading up to the carousal, Tristram slows everything down in the Languedoc. He feels like he was escaped Death and can savor everything life has to offer, including other people and the scenery.
Tristram returns to Toby’s amours in Volume VIII, describing love as yet another military campaign. The widow Wadman’s approach to the courtship of Toby overpowers her foe. When Trim tells Toby about his love affair, it becomes clear that love and arousal are conflated (or better yet, become the same thing). That man (and woman) has two wicks (Ch. 15) has been suggested before by Sterne although in much less explicit terms, although he proposes there is a correct order in lighting the wicks to maximize the flame. In addition, if it wasn’t apparent before now, it becomes clear that this novel represents Tristram’s Hobby-Horse. Also becoming clearer is that the Hobby-Horses of the characters are more than just obsessions—they are how the characters experience the world around them. The Hobby-Horses act as filters in how the4the world is experienced.
Walter calls out his wife’s curiosity (one he is guilty of as well, but he does not indict himself) in Volume IX, which highlights the voyeuristic nature of the reader in reading to find out more about the Shandy family. Whether or not we agree that marriage is like a prison (or the Inquisition, as Trim and Toby seem to suggest), we continue to read about them despite digressions and omissions in order to see what happens to the characters. Tristram’s attempt at an invocation to Cervantes’ inspirational spirit quickly digresses, but radically changes course with the beautiful story of Maria. The reader sticks around because it is never clear what is just around the next bend. Some things are predictable, however, like the outcome of the widow Wadman’s obsession with the location of Toby’s injury will never be answered. The abrupt end of the book seems to be the ultimate digression by Sterne, demonstrating that we will never find the answers to how things will turn out regardless of twist or turn. He claimed mastery over the reader with his pen and demonstrates just how much control he has with this ending.
That Tristram himself is rarely in the book also seems to be of little importance—the act of writing the book constitutes his life. There are so many comments upon writing in these three volumes that it is difficult to pull them together in a short coherent summary so I’ll list a few of them below:
And there are many more quotes, like Tristram deflecting criticism on how slow the story progresses in order to place the blame on the characters. I quote these, though, to try and further strengthen Sterne’s tie with writing as a metaphor for life. In Volume IX, Chapter 25, just as Tristram is about to turn back to the two blank chapters (the eighteenth and nineteenth), he promotes what he calls “a lesson to the world, ”to let people tell their stories their own way.” This is one of the key themes of the book, not just for writing, but letting people live their stories in their own way.
I’ll let the academics argue whether Sterne finished the book or not. I do know I’m glad I finally read this unique work. As it is easy to see the influences on him (Pope, Swift, Locke, etc.), it will be interesting to see Sterne’s influence on other writers, especially in the next book.
"Why do we want to spend a year of our lives making this film?"
If I should speak too jocosely, this bit of liberty you will indulgently grant me - Horace
If anyone should censure [me] as too light for a proper churchman or too biting for a decent Christian, it is not I but Democritus who speaks (Latin) - Erasmus
-- epigraphs to Volumes V and VI
Volumes V and VI has been my least favorite section so far, even though there are some hilarious moments and brilliant ideas. I don’t know if the digressions are taking a toll on my attention span (especially the discussion on radical heat and radical moisture) or if these volumes aren’t quite as consistent as the first four. I’m sure reading these as they were released, several years apart from the others, would make a huge difference. That being said, I’ll touch on the parts I did like.
The novel’s self-conscious interaction with the reader is endearing most of the time. There are many sections where Sterne/Tristram leaves blanks/asterisks/dashes for the reader to fill in, but none as direct as Chapter 38 in Volume VI, where Tristram asks the reader to draw the widow Wadman (“as like your mistress as you can—as unlike your wife as your conscience will let you”) on the blank page that follows. The blurring between Tristram and Sterne breaks down, however, when Sterne addresses his critics. I liked the light touches of the epigraphs and other small asides, but the heavy-handed response to plagiarism charges turned me off. While most of the time his approach is light-hearted, the notice of Bobby’s death immediately following an extended defense doesn’t seem accidental. Maybe Sterne deliberately set to sour the mood in response? The story of Lieutenant Le Fever’s death seems to be compounding sentimentality in this section.
Tristram addresses his approach to writing his life and opinions, mostly claiming that the writing controls him and not the reverse: “(W)hy do I mention it?—Ask my pen,--it governs me,--I govern it not.” While recognizing that his family was unique and provided the source for great drama, he continually defends his approach in the way he tells his tale (while still questioning why he broached a subject too many pages in advance). While trying to graphically show how he has told his tale through the different volumes, Sterne reiterates that it is the journey (of the story, of life) that is important and not reaching the end (and/or delaying it as long as possible). His graphic representations (shown in the picture above) depicts anything but a straight line. Then vowing to attempt a straight line, he immediately goes off on another digression. The blank page and the squiggles at the end of Volume VI got my interest back after a long lull: “(H)ow it has come to pass, that your men of wit and genius have all along confounded this line, with the line of Gravitation.”
Conversation as music, a motif I wanted to keep an eye on, appears throughout this section. Toby seems to be the character that reflects this the most. He hums while reading the note of Bobby’s death, his voice vibrates like a note when speaking, or he modulates his voice to reflect a more serious note. In addition, there is an extended section describing Yorick’s sermons, giving them musical terms to describe their contents and/or how they are to be read. Also, Sterne takes a break at one point to mimic playing a fiddle as an interlude between chapters. I'm not sure why this interests me so much other than Sterne is very explicit about music as a form of communication.
In addition to enjoying the last few chapters of Volume VI, there are two additional things in this section that stood out for me. The first is Tristram’s accidental circumcision, an easy way to evoke laughter (and cringing), but it is done very well with double entendres, hints and allusions to set up the improbable chain of events. “Susannah did not consider that nothing was well hung in our family” indeed. The response of all the characters, especially Trim who did not let Susannah take the blame for the accident (and so soon after his dramatic expounding on life and death for the servants), is fun to watch. They each go off in various directions, spreading discord and misunderstanding everywhere. That Walter takes the news the calmest of all the characters reveals a strength only parodied elsewhere.
The second item I enjoyed is Walter’s Tristrapædia, a convoluted system of education he intends to use to educate Tristram. Like the rest of Walter’s reasoning (“My father, who saw all things in lights different from the rest of the world” is an understatement, and one that Tristram constantly repeats), the system is so convoluted that it defies practicality. Indeed, he is taking so long in laying out the system that Tristram is growing faster than Walter can complete it. With this, the reader gets another example of the dual time regarding writing and life. Walter’s own approach to education is humorously looked at when he tries to decide whether or not Tristram should wear breeches. He consults books on archaic garb, finding little to sway him one way or the other, when it could have easily been resolved by consulting a tailor. At this point, Tristram's constant moaning about Fate and Fortune makes perfect sense.
Some of the previous themes and motifs carry through this section. Walter’s and Elizabeth’s “beds of justice”, coinciding with the same night during the month where Tristram was allegedly conceived, shows Elizabeth always agreeing with Walter. Walter’s possible cuckoldry is occasionally mentioned as well: “I can not … imagine, quoth my father, who the duce he takes after” is explored regarding several features. Previous works alluded to continue, with Locke's association of ideas fully transformed into Sterne's rhetorical style. Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, a tongue-in-cheek work that some critics were probably saying Sterne plagiarized, lies beneath the surface to a lot of topics and digressions.
But what stands out in Volume VI is Tristram declaring that he is changing the focus of his book to Uncle Toby. We get a better picture of how absorbed Toby is in his hobby-horse, his own little world. By definition, Toby lives in the past, relying on the newspaper for his advancing sieges or battles. When the war ends, he is lost…maybe not so much as looking for something now to fill his time but maybe because he has to face the present. His hope for the future is another war so he can lose himself in his world of recreations. Despite Tristram’s constant declarations and examples of how gentle Uncle Toby is, his inability to live outside his self-created world makes for a sad character. Offsetting this sadness is the wonderful relationship he has with Trim (and Walter as well). Their friendship is explored more in Volumes V and VI, much to its benefit. And I hope it is delved into more during the remainder.
I do not fear the opinions of the ignorant mob, but I ask that they spare my little book, in which I always proposed to pass from the mirthful to the serious, and from the serious to the mirthful again.”
--epigraph to Volumes III and IV (from John of Salisbury, bishop of Chartres, and adapted by Sterne)
The tale continues in the same slow, circuitous manner, with plenty of digressions on many topics. At some point the reader realizes that the emphasis is on the journey for both the life and the book, not on reaching an end to either. Sterne mentions again that laughter is his goal and devotes a chapter (IV 22) to explain why. Even though every claim in the book needs to be viewed with a skeptical eye, this goal seems real given the content and style he uses.
Many recent books I have covered dealt with time in some manner and Tristram Shandy does as well. In talking about actor David Garrick, Tristram highlights Garrick’s acting style and the amount of time needed for the scene. While emphasizing the difference between time on the clock and the action covered, Sterne broaches the topic of “clock time” and “life time.” The comparison to Sterne’s writing style is implicit as Tristram analyzes the pauses and other acting tricks Garrick uses to delay his delivery. The relation is much more explicit in Volume IV, Chapter 13 where Tristram notes the dual nature of his life: he lived it initially and he is re-living it in the telling of it. This and the different types of time tie nicely into the previously mentioned “writing as life” theme throughout the book. The “more I write, the more I shall have to write” is Tristram’s attempt to stave off death by continually writing about his life. Tristram even states the relationship at one point: “Being determined as long as I live or write (which in my case means the same thing)”.
The narration style begins to blur the line between Tristram and Sterne in this section. Tristram notes in the early chapters of the book that he got the information being relayed from his Uncle Toby, but there are several times where the wording slips into a third person omniscient voice or includes facts that Toby could not have possibly known. The blurring continues with the inclusion of several of Sterne’s sermons (abridged or paraphrased) as well as letting Tristram address the critics for him. Tristram even suffers from the same health problems as Sterne (“this vile cough”). This blurring is done with such a light hand that it seems unimportant to delve into who is speaking—Tristram is, of course. And if it happens to echo Sterne, so be it. One of the humorous motifs comes from Tristram continually laying out how he will tell the story. Sometimes he sticks to his plans, oftentimes not. He constantly lists subjects he would love to cover (and how many chapters he would devote to them), then goes off on another digression. Chapter 24 in Volume IV has been deleted, even though Tristram later tells you what was in it and why he deleted it (the chapter was done so well it would have made the rest of the book look bad).
The humor continues unabated in this section as well. As everything continues to conspire against Walter and his son, characters are never slow to blame Fortune and Fate instead of looking at the preceding actions. That many of the difficulties happen to be aimed at Walter’s hobby-horses (noses, names, hinges, etc.) makes the growing strife that much funnier. The double entendres and suggestive word choice persists, but at this point Tristram notes that if anything appears bawdy it is all in the reader’s mind (III 31). “To define is to distrust” we are told, yet Tristram defines the word “nose” so that the upcoming discussion on Walter’s hobby-horse about noses and the tale from Slawkenbergius will not seem lewd. Yet by planting that seed the hobby-horse and the tale cannot be read innocently. The frequent hints at castration and cuckoldry continues as well, usually veiled in words with double meanings but sometimes openly as in the Shandy coat of arms on the carriage.
The characters are developed more as we find out more about them. Many parts of Toby and Walter seem pulled directly from characters in Don Quixote. Toby is a major reason I look forward to the rest of the book. Walter’s unique way of reasoning (pointed out several times by Tristram, although it isn’t really necessary to assist the reader) and his stubbornness in clinging to his ideas once formed make him a loveable character despite himself.
Sterne also gets back to Locke several times. I mentioned in the first post that Sterne sometimes agreed with Locke, sometimes critiqued him. I now think “critique” is too strong a word for his disagreements. Direct associations with Locke in just Volume III can be found in Chapter 18 (succession of ideas), Chapter 20 (disagreement with Locke’s thoughts regarding the interaction of wit and judgment), Chapter 31 (exactness and precision), and Chapter 40 (linking of ideas, as well as wishing Locke could view Walter and Toby’s discussion). While other works and authors are mentioned or alluded to in these volumes, Locke holds center stage for much of the time.
There are two additional themes or motifs I want to keep in mind for the rest of the work to see if they are developed more. First is the feeling of conversation as a song. Many terms used in describing a character’s speech have a musical meaning: tone, pitch, chord, third, fifth, etc. There are “duets” at times with two speakers talking at the same time (or even one talking while the other whistles). The second theme is the head/heart differences. Yorick destroys his sermon because it came from his head instead of his heart. However, in describing why he cannot translate the next tale by Slawkenbergius, Tristram admits that the story spoke directly to his heart while “(t)he brain made no acknowledgment.” The key for Sterne in other areas seems to be balance, so we'll see if that is his resolution to the problem. I’m interested to see if either of these themes is addressed further in the last half of the book.
If it were possible to sum up this section in one sentence, Tristram advances a likely candidate (when talking about Phutatorius' burn): “It is curious to observe the triumph of slight incidents over the mind.” 
Men are tormented with the Opinions they have of Things, and not by the Things themselves.
-- epigraph to Volumes I and II (from the Stoic Epicetus as translated by Montaigne)
It has taken me a while to get into Tristram Shandy but I am hopelessly lost in it now. It does not take long to realize that this novel will be unlike most other books. The title gives one clue: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. “And opinions”? That a “shandy” can mean an addle-brained person is another. Then comes the memorable first chapter where the “author” Tristram Shandy tells us about his conception and why the distraction caused by his mother was, as his Uncle Toby said, only the beginning of Tristram’s misfortunes.
The unique structure and feel of the book makes itself felt quickly, with (usually) short chapters, blank pages, skipped chapter and page numbers, blackened pages, etc. The text also includes many breaks, dashes, asterisks, and other devices to make the reading feel like a conversation while the author frequently addresses the reader directly. Yet it will never be more than a one sided conversation—after all, it is and will always be an author/reader relationship. To offset that limitation, Sterne (I will be interchanging Sterne and Tristram for the author’s role) uses the punctuation devices to mimic conversational breaks. Another method that helps is the interactions and exchanges between characters inserted throughout—keeping a conversational format in front of the reader helps keep the feel of a dialogue.
Tristram explains his method throughout the book (even going as far to say that writing “is but a different name for conversation” when done correctly), noting the progression he hopes to achieve from acquaintance to familiarity and ending in friendship with the reader. He also begs the reader’s patience in his constant digressions, promising that he is progressing the story. Yet Tristram takes pride “that my reader has never yet been able to guess at any thing” upcoming in his story.
Humor permeates almost every chapter—even when Trim is reading Yorick’s (Sterne’s) sermon on conscience, Dr. Slop falls asleep (see the frontispiece above). The humor often turns bawdy, sometimes directly (although the language is never lewd) but most often through double entendres, puns, and suggestive word choice. One of the running jokes is the possibility that Walter Shandy is not really Tristram’s father (his birth is only 8 months after the alleged conception, for one example, although Tristram says that’s about as close as any husband can hope for). In his innuendos, replete with dashes and asterisks to mask what was really said or done, Sterne undermines the conversational mode he tries to establish. In a true conversation, the participants note not just what was said but all the other communication going on—body language, tone of voice, etc. At some points the reader has to think “did he just say what I think he said?” in trying to interpret just how ‘dirty’ the text is meant to be. This naughty ambiguity offsets some of the conversational feel, but adds greatly to the humor. There are many additional techniques Sterne uses, but one that I enjoy is ideas taken to extremes. One example was shortly after Tristram works in The Sorbonne Memoir, a 1733 opinion that an unborn baby can be baptized in the womb by use of a syringe. Tristram wonders why a man’s sperm could not be baptized in the same manner since the Homunculus theoretically could receive the same blessing.
There are several works mentioned or quoted in these first two volumes. Rabelais, Montaigne, and Pope are either mentioned or alluded to, but the major influences are Cervantes, Swift, and Shakespeare. Several of the characters remind the reader of either Don Quixote or Sancho Panza (or even Rosinante). There are many allusions to Swift’s work, especially A Tale of the Tub, including its digressive style. Mention of Shakespeare’s work constantly appears, with this section heavy on allusions and quotes from Hamlet. Lastly, Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding is specifically mentioned and referenced often. In both structure and subjects, Sterne dramatizes Locke’s premise that unrelated things can become related in our minds. Yet in other places Sterne seems to be critiquing Locke (usually humorously), such as Tristram constantly complaining that his life has “been the continual sport of what the world calls Fortune”, not a tabula rasa to be shaped by education and experience.
So what happens in these volumes? In one sense, not much since we go from Tristram’s conception to the night of his birth. But with so many digressions suspending the flow of any narrative, a lot of information is provided on various characters. I have provided a list of the chapter topics at the end of this post to highlight the digressions and keep up with the flow of information. One example where this helps: Elizabeth goes into labor in Volume I, Chapter 21 but that thread is immediately suspended and not rejoined until Volume II, Chapter 6. I have seen Sterne’s narrative technique compared to the stream-of-consciousness used by Joyce, Woolf, Faulkner and others but I don’t think it falls in the same category. Tristram self-consciously narrates the story and facts, not as he thinks of them but with a precise pattern in mind. It is not a far step from his technique to stream-of-consciousness, though.
One major focus of the book is introduced here—hobby-horses. Sterne doesn’t pass judgment on the fixations in these volumes but does tend to lampoon those of his characters. In the case of Toby’s fascination with fortifications, his hobby-horse initially led him to languish in bed with his groin wound for four years. However, Trim’s suggestion of physically manifesting his hobby-horse at the country house led to Toby’s rapid improvement. That anything and everything mentioned can be tied back to something about the science of fortification in Toby’s mind provides a humorous edge to his obsession.
Sterne’s use of time in the novel is fun to watch as well. With the conversational methods Sterne uses in telling the story, he introduces a human element to the impartial and mechanical ticking of the clock. Things happen in the novel when Tristram feels like revealing them. In the mix of digressions and progressions, time’s shape feels similar to a corkscrew—circular while moving forward in a third plane (Woolf provides the best example of this I’ve seen). The punctuation breaks and other games played with the text slow down the normal reading process, which Tristram intends.
“’Tis to rebuke a vicious taste, which has crept into thousands besides herself,-----of reading straight forwards, more in quest of the adventures, than of the deep erudition and knowledge with a book of this cast, if read over as it should be, would infallibly impart with them-----The mind should be accustomed to make wise reflections, and draw curious conclusions as it goes along…”.
It remains to be seen how deep and erudite the cast of this book will be, but the point of savoring the novel instead of rushing through the work underscores standing outside regular time. Chapter 8 in Volume II discusses what can happen in a few pages, while the rest of the novel demonstrates how little can happen in a lot. Sterne, intended or not, seems to be redefining what the novel can do. Like Joyce’s Ulysses, I get pleasure from having a physical object in my hands to leaf back to previous references and see visual tricks beyond the normal printed lines.
Another theme is the metaphor of life as a book. Death is euphemistically described as “the very end of the chapter.” In describing the plans for his book in Volume I, Chapter 14, Tristram hopes to “make a tolerable bargain with my bookseller” and “continue to do [write] as long as I live.” In writing, both Sterne and Tristram hint that they can fight time by invoking laughter. “Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine;-----they are the life, the soul of reading!” This ties in nicely with Sterne’s dedication to William Pitt:
”…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.”
He definitely has added smiles and laughs to this reader. I’ll save exploring birth as a metaphor for writing until the next post…
I think I’ll go with the shortened name of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. The long title is the reader’s first clue that nothing in the novel will be to the point. Here are some links on the work and the author:
Laurence Sterne
Wikipedia’s entry on the author
The Shandean is “an international scholarly journal for the critical and historical investigation of all aspects of the work and life of Laurence Sterne.” Not much of the journal is available online beyond issue contents, but it will be interesting to see what is planned for The Tercentenary (of Sterne’s birth) Conference in 2013.
Laurence Sterne in Cyberspace, a collection of many site about Sterne and his works. The links to The Tristram Shandy Web (at The IULM University) don’t always work, but you can access that site directly by clicking here.
An article about Sterne at Jesus College, University of Cambridge where he attended starting in 1733. “He detested the curriculum he had to study at Cambridge, especially mathematics and logic, but he read with enthusiasm the ancient and modern literary classics.”
Tristram Shandy
Wikipedia’s entry on the book
Links for the text at Project Gutenberg
HTML text site--harder to read, but it captures the quirkiness and originality of the text
The Glasgow University Library has pictures from early editions of the various volumes plus interesting facts about the book. “To protect his book from piracy, Sterne autographed the beginning of the first and second editions of volume 5 and the first editions of volumes 7 and 9: hence we find the author's signature in our copies of volumes 7 and 9. It has been estimated that Sterne had to sign his name an incredible 12,750 times to achieve this.” I can’t argue with one of their conclusions: “Such peculiarities draw attention to the appearance of the page and highlight the novel's lack of conventional form; indeed, although written in a conversational style, the enjoyment of the book very much depends upon the reader experiencing it as a physical object.”
Francisco Daniel Rey Rus’ Tristram Shandy site, containing several helpful essays
William Michaelian’s poem “Reading Tristram Shandy”
Update: William Michaelian sent an additional site that is a project by Thomas Steele--original commentary in addition to helpful links.
Update 2: Various pieces of art associated with Sterne or Tristram Shandy.
