The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman: the Notes
Volume 3 of the Florida Edition of the Works of Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne (Author), Melvyn New (Edited by), Richard A. Davies (Edited by), W. G. Day (Edited by)

9780813007380

Hardback, published 1 October 1984

572 pages, illustrations
24 x 15.6 x 4 cm, 1.006 kg

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (or Tristram Shandy) is a novel by Laurence Sterne. It was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1759, and seven others following over the next seven years (vols. 3 and 4, 1761; vols. 5 and 6, 1762; vols. 7 and 8, 1765; vol. 9, 1767). It purports to be a biography of the eponymous character. Its style is marked by digression, double entendre, and graphic devices. As its title suggests, the book is ostensibly Tristram's narration of his life story. But it is one of the central jokes of the novel that he cannot explain anything simply, that he must make explanatory diversions to add context and colour to his tale, to the extent that Tristram's own birth is not even reached until Volume III.