Laurence Sterne A Life

by Ross, Ian Campbell

• ISBN13: 9780192804068
• ISBN10: 0192804065
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Laurence Sterne was in his mid-forties when the publication of TristramShandy catapulted him from obscurity into unprecedented literary fame. The storyof how a provincial clergyman became the most fashionable writer of his day isextraordinary, and all the more remarkable for having been engineered by itssubject. 'I wrote not to be fed, but to be famous', Laurence Sterne declared ofhis comic masterpiece, and in order to achieve his ambiton he became anassiduous networked, as astute a self-publicist as any modern author could hopeto be. Shocked critics of Tristram Shandy denounced his bawdy novel as a scandalto the cloth but Sterne revelled in the celebrity his age's obsession withnovelty and fashion allowed him. He at last found compensation for a lifecharacterized by alternating moods of gaiety and gloom. Unhappily married to awoman who suffered a nervous breakdown and at one time believed herself to bethe Queen of Bohemia, Sterne became notorious for his sexual and sentimentalliaisons with other women. His second book, A Sentimental Journey, transmutedhis experiences into literary expressions of moral feeling.Dependent for so much of his life on patrons, it was the patronage of thereading public that was to secure his livelihood. Tristram Shandy remains one ofthe most innovative and influential novels in world literature, and Ian CampbellRoss makes full use of important new materials to examine Sterne's life andcareer and the cult of the celebrity author.

Author Biography

Ian Campbell Ross is a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin where he teaches English Literature.

Table of Contents

Introduction: 'Tristram is the Fashion'	p. 1
Ireland and England, 1713-1738	p. 20
Priest and Husband, 1738-1741	p. 49
Political Journalist, 1741-1742	p. 62
Sutton and Stillington, 1742-1745	p. 91
The Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746	p. 122
Sutton and Stillington, 1746-1759	p. 142
Ecclesiastical Politics, 1747-1759	p. 168
Tristram Shandy and the Queen of Bohemia, 1759	p. 197
Tristram Shandy and Parson Yorick, 1760	p. 215
Coxwold and London, 1760-1761	p. 250
France, 1762-1764	p. 274
England, 1764-1765	p. 310
France, Italy, and England, 1765-1767	p. 334
London, 1767	p. 360
Coxwold and London, 1767-1768	p. 384
Epilogue: 'Alas, poor Yorick!'	p. 416
Notes	p. 433
List of Works Cited	p. 469
Index	p. 479
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