★★☆☆☆ Nudge nudge wink wink

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Laurence Sterne

I was a high-school student when I tried to read Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy. This was a mistake. If you read a lot of old books, you come to know of other, even older books that are mentioned by the authors of the less old ones. I don't know how many Tristram Shandy-reading gentlemen I encountered in 19th century English literature. (Always gentlemen -- although I rather suspect 19th century ladies read Tristram Shandy, few 19th-century authors would dare to feature a Tristram Shandy-reading female.) One can easily imagine Mr Bennett chuckling at Tristram Shandy, although if he did, Jane Austen doesn't tell us so.

So, I tried to read it. It's supposed to be funny. It was frustrating. High-school me kept hoping something would happen, but nothing ever does. In fact, that is kind of the point. Sterne is masterful at filling pages with text and yet somehow never producing a plot. I was not completely lost. Even to high-school me, many joke-shaped objects were discernable. But they never made me laugh.

Much of the humor is of the nudge nudge wink wink variety made famous by Monty Python. For instance, I remember some of the ladies being appalled at hints about war injuries in the vicinity of the procreative organs of one of the gentlemen. From the perspective of the 21st century, or even the 20th, it was exceedingly mild stuff.

I occasionally think retired-old-person me ought to give it another try. But besides being impenetrable, it is quite long. So, nah... Not gonna happen. One should learn from ones mistakes!

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