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The most striking formal and
technical characteristics of Tristram Shandy are its unconventional
time scheme and its self-declared digressive-progressive style. Sterne,
through his fictional author-character Tristram, defiantly refuses to
present events in their proper chronological order. Again and again in the
course of the novel Tristram defends his authorial right to move backward
and forward in time as he chooses. He also relies so heavily on digressions
that plot elements recede into the background; the novel is full of long
essayistic passages remarking on what has transpired or, often, on something
else altogether. Tristram claims that his narrative is both digressive and
progressive, calling our attention to the way in which his authorial project
is being advanced at the very moments when he seems to have wandered
farthest afield.
By fracturing the sequence of the stories he tells and
interjecting them with chains of associated ideas, memories, and anecdotes,
Tristram allows thematic significance to emerge out of surprising
juxtapositions between seemingly unrelated events. The association of ideas
is a major theme of the work, however, and not just a structural principle.
Part of the novel's self-critique stems from the way the author often mocks
the perverseness by which individuals associate and interpret events based
on their own private mental preoccupations. The author's own ideas and
interpretations are presumably just as singular, and so the novel remains
above all a catalogue of the "opinions" of Tristram Shandy.
Much of the subtlety of the novel comes from the
layering of authorial voice that Sterne achieves by making his protagonist
the author of his own life story, and then presenting that story as the
novel itself. The fictional author's consciousness is the filter through
which everything in the book passes. Yet Sterne sometimes invites the reader
to question the opinions and assumptions that Tristram expresses, reminding
us that Shandy is not a simple substitute for Sterne. One of the effects of
this technique is to draw the reader into an unusually active and
participatory role. Tristram counts on his audience to indulge his
idiosyncrasies and verify his opinions; Sterne asks the reader to approach
the unfolding narrative with a more discriminating and critical judgment.
A Sentimental Journey
Sterne's second and last novel, is the story of Yorick's
travels through France; Sterne did not live to complete the part on Italy.
He called it a "sentimental" journey because the point of travel was not to
see sights or visit art collections, but to make meaningful contact with
people. Yorick succeeds, but in every adventure, his ego or inappropriate
desires and impulses get in the way of "sentimental commerce." The result is
a light-hearted comedy of moral sentiments. A Sentimental Journey was
translated into many languages, but the translations tended to lose the
comedy and emphasize the sentiments. Abroad Sterne became the "high priest
of sentimentalism," and as such had a profound impact upon continental
letters in the second half of the 18th century.
In the novel Sterne shows his unlimited sympathy for
all the pitiful. In addition, this book also has digressions, though not as
many as those in Tristram Shandy. Sterne deliberately does not
fulfill the task which the name of the book promises. The travel stops at
Lyon which is far from the boundary between France and Italy. The hero also
refuses to visit those noticeable places in Paris and Calais.
Sterne highly praised of sentimentalism. He described people’s inner life
and personal grieves and joys to arouse readers’ tears and laughs, as well
as those of his own. Therefore, Sterne is regarded as a representative of
sentimentalism in the 18th century. His writing technique, especially
narrative liberation from the convention, has far influenced the writers in
the 20th century.
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