The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

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HarperCollins presents a range of beloved classics, including one of the great English comic novels that stirred 18th-century society. This work broke with traditional form and structure, anticipating postmodernism by two centuries, and shocked readers with its bawdy descriptions and rambling prose. Influenced by figures like Francis Bacon, Rabelais, and Jonathan Swift, the author, clergyman Lawrence Sterne, skillfully champions and satirizes contemporary literary and scientific views. The questionable narrator, Tristram Shandy, attempts to recount his life story, but his numerous digressions on topics such as sexual practices, the significance of names, obstetrics, linguistics, weaponry, and philosophy reveal a non-linear narrative. Readers quickly become immersed in the author's exuberance and wit, as Tristram's conception and birth are not even introduced until Volume III. The novel features a memorable cast of misfits, including his eccentric father Walter, obsessive Uncle Toby, accident-prone mother Susannah, and pastor Yorick, all contributing to the restless energy and modern wit that have garnered admiration from thinkers and artists like Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Schopenhauer, and Michael Winterbottom.