ࡱ> >@=%` bjbjNN .,,, 88,d:&%%%%%%%$('h)%%%%% @z4#|% &0:&b*b*b*vTVD%%R:&| |  The Book of Irish Writers, Chapter 14 - Laurence Sterne, 17131768 If Laurence Sterne had died at the age of 45 - no one would have heard of him! He is a towering literary figure - and a major influence on many Irish, and other writers, because of one work, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman The book was published in instalments between 1759 and 1767 and is an exuberant and revolutionary novel. It is written in a constant endeavour to fence against the 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. Much of Tristram Shandy is apparently based on chance - so its appropriate that Sterne is Irish by chance as well. He was born in Clonmel in 1713, and lived in Ireland for the first ten years of his life - but only because his father was stationed here as a soldier. From the age of 10, Sterne was educated in England, and he graduated from Cambridge at the age of 24. The next twenty years of his life are easily accounted for. He became an Anglican clergyman, serving in rural parishes, mostly in Yorkshire. He was rather unhappily married, and suffered poor health. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy takes several lives - which are almost as dull as this - and turns them into a sprawling narrative of wit, learning, bawdiness, ridicule and, overridingly, affectionate tolerance. So what is it about? In some ways its quite easy to summarise: Tristram Shandy, a gentleman, decides to write his life story. This involves his parents, Walter and Elizabeth, his uncle Toby, Tobys manservant Corporal Trim, the local vicar, Yorick - and a few others living in the neighbourhood of Shandy Hall. If all the characters are eccentric - or as the novel puts it, they all ride hobby horses - thats not because theyre strange, but because theyre normal: Tristram Shandy recognizes that were all subject to folly and foibles. Sterne began the work in an unlikely way by publishing a pamphlet, in early 1759, satirising a minor church conflict this opened a floodgate. By the end of the year the first two volumes of Tristram Shandy were published to acclaim and success. Sterne made at least three times his annual salary from this first publication and became the toast of London! For eight years and over nine volumes that success continued - though the fact that he was a clergyman did cause some controversy. Lord! said my mother, what is all this story about? A Cock and a Bull, said Yorick, And one of the best of its kind, I ever heard. These are the books last words and typically suggest that the whole thing has been merely a cock and bull story. In telling his story Tristram refuses to - Confine myself to any man's rules that ever lived. He believes that - Writing, when properly managed, is but a different name for conversation. As readers, therefore, were constantly addressed, given advice, told to read the previous chapter again, or to ignore the one that were currently reading - To such however as do not choose to go so far back into these things, I can give no better advice than that they skip over the remaining part of this chapter. Shut the door! That shut the door is typical, were treated as if were in the room with the narrator - or in this case, just leaving it. There are dozens of other games and tricks throughout the novel: a whole chapter is missing because, as Tristram explains, its So much above the stile and manner of anything else I have been able to paint in this book that it could not have remained without depreciating every other scene. At another point he offers to sell a dedication to the highest bidder; the Preface to volume 2 appears in chapter 13 because its the first spare moment the author has had; theres a black page to mark the death of Yorick, a blank page for the reader to write their own description of a character, and pages with squiggly lines to show how the story has progressed - and digressed - so far. In many ways with its larger than life characters and countless diversions - the book echoes the exuberant strangeness of early Irish myths and legends. Also - according to the writer Frank OConnor - the test of an Irish writer is whether theyre part of the story of Irish writing. In Sternes case, yes, his influence is huge: James Joyce, Flann OBrien, Samuel Beckett, John Banville and Ciaran Carson all echo his work. In this company Sterne is very much part of the story.     019BCOP  : ̚iiWF0+h,jh76CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH  h2h7CJOJQJ^JaJ#h2h76CJOJQJ^JaJ2h2h76CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH ,h2h7CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH /h2h7CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH 2h,jh75>*CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH /h,jh7>*CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH 5h,jh75>*CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH CD: ; { | M237^7gd2gd271$7$8$H$^7gd2 1$7$8$H$gd2 G M { | -   .8;ipҼraOa#h2h76CJOJQJ^JaJ h2h7CJOJQJ^JaJ5h2h7B*CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH phsH /h2h76CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH ,h2h7CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH +h2h76CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH +h,jh76CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH .h,jh756CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH )4>J12fٰjS>S>(h2h7CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH ,h,jh7CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH /h2h76CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH /h,jh76CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH +h,jh76CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH ,h2h7CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH #h2h76CJOJQJ^JaJ h2h7CJOJQJ^JaJ)h2h7B*CJOJQJ^JaJph3f3fg34[\^gd2gd27^7gd21$7$8$H$^gd271$7$8$H$`7gd2 1$7$8$H$gd2>D[\=B)0տu]E/h2h7>*CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH /h,jh76CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH 5h2h7B*CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH phsH /h2h76CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH ,h2h7CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH +h2h76CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH +h,jh76CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH (h2h7CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH \ 1$7$8$H$gd2gd20鿷hcnjhcnU#h,jh)5CJOJQJ^JaJ/h2h76CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH ,h2h7CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH  ,1h. 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