Tristram Shandy
Anhar Redmond
English 2220G
Dr. Coby Dowdell
April 1, 2012
Arresting Truth Laurence Sterne’s masterpiece Tristram Shandy is revolutionary in its attempt to reflect the real nature of narrative, and its attempt to arrest meaning. Its rich satire and unconventional structure defies any attempt to categorize it; thus it stands alone as an indecisive and partial account of the apparent protagonist Tristram Shandy, an unfortunate victim of a series of unrelated events. Tristram tries desperately to communicate the events in his life to his reader in as much detail as possible but he finds it difficult to do so. He is limited by extensive the backgrounds of characters, the various factors that affect their temperament, and the complexity of all the discourse produced between them, all of which becomes difficult to organize into any logical order. The nature of the text is what some commentaries such as Victor Shlovsky describe as, ‘chaos.’ Ironically, this real nature of life as confusing and muddles is exactly what Sterne is trying to portray. Sterne sets the stage in a non-chronological framework in an attempt to capture the essence of an individual’s mind, which is constantly moving, and often thinks of things unrelated to one’s current position in regards to place and time. With reference to Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy and three narrative theorists: Plato, Roland Barthes, and Paul de Man, this paper will assess the ways in which Sterne stage narrative as a defective tool of accounting for life events. Ultimately, Sterne’s effort to present a detailed story of his life becomes a means in which he points to a larger overriding theme, which is the impossibility of ever finding truth.
Tristram is fundamentally interested in understanding people, as evident in his exhaustive description of characters and his opinions about them. In attempting to understand others, Tristram first starts with himself; he accounts his opinions and observations in utmost
English 2220G
Dr. Coby Dowdell
April 1, 2012
Arresting Truth Laurence Sterne’s masterpiece Tristram Shandy is revolutionary in its attempt to reflect the real nature of narrative, and its attempt to arrest meaning. Its rich satire and unconventional structure defies any attempt to categorize it; thus it stands alone as an indecisive and partial account of the apparent protagonist Tristram Shandy, an unfortunate victim of a series of unrelated events. Tristram tries desperately to communicate the events in his life to his reader in as much detail as possible but he finds it difficult to do so. He is limited by extensive the backgrounds of characters, the various factors that affect their temperament, and the complexity of all the discourse produced between them, all of which becomes difficult to organize into any logical order. The nature of the text is what some commentaries such as Victor Shlovsky describe as, ‘chaos.’ Ironically, this real nature of life as confusing and muddles is exactly what Sterne is trying to portray. Sterne sets the stage in a non-chronological framework in an attempt to capture the essence of an individual’s mind, which is constantly moving, and often thinks of things unrelated to one’s current position in regards to place and time. With reference to Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy and three narrative theorists: Plato, Roland Barthes, and Paul de Man, this paper will assess the ways in which Sterne stage narrative as a defective tool of accounting for life events. Ultimately, Sterne’s effort to present a detailed story of his life becomes a means in which he points to a larger overriding theme, which is the impossibility of ever finding truth.
Tristram is fundamentally interested in understanding people, as evident in his exhaustive description of characters and his opinions about them. In attempting to understand others, Tristram first starts with himself; he accounts his opinions and observations in utmost
Cited: Sterne, Laurence. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2003 Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave”. The Narrative Reader. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2005. P 37-39 Print. De man, Paul. “Reading (Proust).” The Narrative Reader. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2005. P 227-231 Print.