The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

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Summary

Sterne's utterly original novel - the meandering, maddening 'autobiography' of one of literature's oldest comic characters.

Doomed to become the ‘sport of fortune’ by an interruption at the crucial moment of conception, Tristram Shandy’s life lurches from one mishap to another: his nose crushed by the doctor’s forceps during birth, christened with the wrong name, an unfortunate incident involving a slamming sash window… Discover the anti-autobiography of the hilarious Tristram Shandy.

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY TOM MCCARTHY

‘Tristram Shandy is one of the funniest novels in the English language. It's also one of the first great experimental literary works’ Independent

Reviews

Tristram Shandy is one of the funniest novels in the English language. It's also one of the first great experimental literary works
Independent

About the author

Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne was born in 1713, the younger son of a landowning Yorkshire family. He studied at Jesus College, Cambridge and was ordained in 1738. Sterne's dramas were mostly personal, including bitter quarrels with his wife and uncle, and some high profile affairs. The publication of the first volumes of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy in 1759 made him famous throughout Europe overnight. He went on to complete the remaining volumes over the next seven years. Sterne died in 1768 of tuberculosis, the condition that had dogged him for many years.

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