the life and the opinions of tristram shandy

Apparently, as described of Yorick, Sterne’s progress in the church early in his career was also damaged by political conflict. It also seems that Sterne created the character to mirror some of the conflicts and misfortunes that occurred in his own life. In real life, Sterne’s own sermons were published as The Sermons of Yorick. Obviously there is a clear narrative voice throughout the novel in which Sterne writes in the position of Tristram Shandy addressing an audience, however his story-telling regarding Yorick certainly takes a more personal tone than most of the other characters. Much of the poignancy of Yorick’s death is the autobiographical link to Lawrence Sterne, himself. The irregular narrative of the novel, which skips backwards and forwards through time, allows for this loss of such a character. The scene establishes the death of one of the most visibly important characters of the first seventy pages or so. Yorick’s death scene here, fairly early in the novel, is important in the context of the narrative structure, and of the development of the form itself. The use of these visual texts to communicate what cannot be expressed through conventional literary language is another way in which Sterne highlights the inadequacy of literature in representing real life. By their very oddity, these features tend to foreground the artificiality of literature. Tristram Shandy makes extensive use of special typographical features and specially-designed plates that are intended to fulfil a number of purposes. Each time we think that we may be given some insight to a previous storyline the text veers off on another digression, ‘Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine – they are the life, the soul of reading – take them out of this book for instance – you might as well take the book along with them… ‘ For this essay, I shall focus on the last few pages in chapter twelve of volume one, where Yorick the Parson meets his demise to the eulogy of a black page.

Sterne’s narrative logic focuses on the possibilities of writing over the exigencies of plot. However, the novel largely concerns itself with events occurring before the applied author’s birth, including his father Walter’s pre-occupation with the importance of a proper name to a man’s character, his Uncle Toby’s hobby of re-enacting famous battles, and the death of Yorick the Parson from the ill-effects of rumour.

As indicated by the title, the novel is autobiographical of the fictional character Tristram Shandy. Lawrence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is essentially a reflection on the nature of literature.

The life and the opinions of tristram shandy