Editors Reads Verdict
The novel that anticipated the entire twentieth-century metafictional tradition — Sterne's digressive, self-referential, typographically playful work was written in the 1760s and feels more contemporary than most novels written three centuries later. Horace Walpole thought it would not last; it has outlasted everything he wrote.
What We Loved
- The formal invention — a novel that literally cannot tell its own story — is executed with complete consistency and great comedy
- Uncle Toby, obsessively recreating military battles in his garden, is one of the great comic creations in English literature
- The typographical experiments (blank pages, marbled pages, black pages) are funny and genuinely meaningful
Minor Drawbacks
- The digressive structure requires patience — readers who want narrative will be consistently frustrated
- Some of the learned allusions require familiarity with Locke's theory of association of ideas and other eighteenth-century concerns
Key Takeaways
- → The novel argues (via Locke) that consciousness is associative — thoughts connect to other thoughts, not to narrative sequence, so a faithful autobiography must be associative too
- → Uncle Toby's inability to talk about anything except military fortifications is Sterne's most sustained comic idea — obsession as character
- → The blank page (where the reader is invited to draw the Widow Wadman themselves) is the first interactive novel element in literary history
| Author | Laurence Sterne |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Penguin Classics |
| Pages | 640 |
| Published | January 1, 1759 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Classic, Literary Fiction, Comedy |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers interested in the history of the novel and metafiction — adventurous readers who find conventional narrative too predictable. |
The Impossible Autobiography
Tristram Shandy sets out to write his life story. He begins with his conception — and the interruption of his mother asking his father whether he has wound the clock, which because of the Shandean theory of association of ideas (derived from Locke) is enough to derail the entire opening. Three volumes later, Tristram is still not born.
This is not failure but design. Sterne’s novel argues that a truly faithful autobiography cannot be linear — because consciousness is associative, not sequential. Every memory connects to another; every digression connects to ten more. The novel’s digressiveness is its argument.
Uncle Toby
The novel’s greatest character is Uncle Toby, a retired soldier who cannot talk about anything except military fortifications. He was wounded at the siege of Namur; the wound, in a delicate location, and the difficulty of explaining it to Widow Wadman, is one of the novel’s sustained comic threads. Toby is a man of perfect gentleness whose gentleness can only express itself through the language of war.
Our rating: 4.1/5 — The novel that invented metafiction — still funnier and stranger than most of its imitators.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" about?
Tristram Shandy attempts to write his life story and cannot get past the moment of his conception. The novel is all digression — Uncle Toby's military obsessions, the Shandean theory of noses, blank pages, marbled pages, dedications to the reader — and is widely considered the most metafictional novel ever written, despite being the eighth-century novel.
Who should read "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman"?
Readers interested in the history of the novel and metafiction — adventurous readers who find conventional narrative too predictable.
What are the key takeaways from "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman"?
The novel argues (via Locke) that consciousness is associative — thoughts connect to other thoughts, not to narrative sequence, so a faithful autobiography must be associative too Uncle Toby's inability to talk about anything except military fortifications is Sterne's most sustained comic idea — obsession as character The blank page (where the reader is invited to draw the Widow Wadman themselves) is the first interactive novel element in literary history
Is "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" worth reading?
The novel that anticipated the entire twentieth-century metafictional tradition — Sterne's digressive, self-referential, typographically playful work was written in the 1760s and feels more contemporary than most novels written three centuries later. Horace Walpole thought it would not last; it has outlasted everything he wrote.
Ready to Read The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Prices and availability are subject to change. See Amazon for current price.
Review last updated: