The Life and Opinions of Tristham Shandy, Gentleman — Laurence Sterne

The first four volumes of the classic 18th century comedic novel by Laurence Sterne is brought to the reader in this superb new edition.Lengthy but compelling, the tale of Tristham Shandy and his associates is made vibrant by the use of comedic devices such as double entendre and long, absentminded digressions. The overarching theme of the book is however the shortcomings of language, which the author communicates through wordplay, double meanings and general japing. An example of the book's humour runs as follows: The titular character sets down to author his autobiography - although aiming to complete two volumes a year, he is constantly distracted. This is a problem he blames on his father Walter, who wound the household clock on the same day as he would perform his duty in the bedroom as husband to Tristham's mother. Yet on the night of his conception, Walter remembered - in the midst of sexual congress - that he had forgotten to wind the clock, and bolted up to do so in the midst of the act itself. This truncation meant that the just-conceived Tristham lacked the humors and development required - coitus interruptus had quite simply robbed Tristham of the ability to focus. Thus, he cannot even reach the subject of his birth until Volume III. Today the book remains widely read, having been praised by intellectuals such as Samuel Johnson and Arthur Schopenhauer, and inspiring authors as diverse as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. In the wake of its publication, the fledgling abolitionist movement sought - and gained - the author's eloquent approval of slavery abolition. Laurence Sterne conceived of the Tristham Shandy novel as his life's masterwork, and as such it is exhaustively long with a painstakingly assembled text. Literary references, particularly to poets of the Enlightenment era, abound throughout the book, which remains an entertaining and worthwhile read to this day.