Laurence Sterne and the Modern Novel

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Laurence Sterne and the modern novel From the publication of the first two volumes, Tristram Shandy was a success, and a success not only in England but also in France, Italy, and Germany. The characters of Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim and the Widow Wadman episode were particularly admired, and Sterne's humor was generally appreciated. Sterne regarded humor as "the gift of God," and he used it to achieve satiric ends. He acknowledged following Cervantes's lead in "describing silly and trifling Events, with the Circumstantial Pomp of Great Ones." Writing a comic novel with serious goals presented difficulties for Sterne, "I am going down to write a world of Nonsense–if possible like a man of Sense–but there is the Rub." The "rub" or the potential incompatibility which Sterne anticipated may apply to the reader as well. Do we read seriously, looking for meaning(s) and enjoying the humor as we go, or do we read as game players, having fun and taking serious meanings as they reveal themselves? or is there some other way to read this novel? Is Ian Watt right that "through imaginative play we learn about ourselves"? One of Sterne's goals in writing Tristram Shandy "was the hopes of doing the world good by ridiculing what I thought deserving of it–or of disservice to sound learning." Sterne's satire of faulty scientific reasoning or misuse of knowledge is, I suspect, the part of the novel that is most difficult for most of us to understand. If this is the case, I suggest that, as you read passages which are laden with footnotes explaining Sterne's allusions, you keep in mind his purpose, even if you don't understand all the details or follow his argument completely. For example, Sterne explained that in his chapter on noses, "the principal satire throughout that part is levelled at those learned blockheads who, in all ages, have wasted their time and much learning
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