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{{Short description|Anglo-Irish writer and cleric (1713–1768)}}
{{redirect|Laurence Stern|the American journalist|Laurence Stern (journalist)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
|honorific_prefix = [[The Reverend]]
|name = Laurence Sterne
|image = Laurence Sterne by Sir Joshua Reynolds.jpg
|caption = Portrait by [[Joshua Reynolds]], 1760
|pseudonym =
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1713|11|24}}
|birth_place = [[Clonmel]], Ireland
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1768|3|18|1713|11|24}}
|death_place = [[London]], England
|occupation = Novelist, clergyman
|alma_mater = [[Jesus College, Cambridge]]
|period =
|genre =
|subject =
|movement =
|notableworks = ''[[The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman]]''<br/>''[[A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy]]''<br/>''[[A Political Romance]]''
|spouse = Elizabeth Lumley
|partner =
|children =
|relatives =
|awards =
|signature =
|website =
}}
'''Laurence Sterne''' (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768) was an Anglo-Irish [[novelist]] and [[Anglican cleric]]. He is best known for his comic novels ''[[The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman]]'' (1759–1767) and ''[[A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy]]'' (1768).
Sterne grew up in a military family, travelling mainly in Ireland but briefly in England. He attended [[Jesus College, Cambridge]], on a [[sizar]]ship, gaining bachelor's and master's degrees, and was ordained as a priest in 1738. While Vicar of [[Sutton-on-the-Forest]], Yorkshire, he married Elizabeth Lumley in 1741. He briefly wrote political propaganda for the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]], but abandoned politics in 1742. In 1759, he wrote an ecclesiastical [[satire]] ''[[A Political Romance]]'', which embarrassed the church and was burned. Having discovered his talent for comedy, at age 46 he dedicated himself to humour writing as a vocation. Also in 1759, he published the first volume of ''Tristram Shandy'', which was an enormous success and continued for a total of nine volumes. He was a literary celebrity for the rest of his life. In addition to his novels, he published several volumes of [[Sermons of Laurence Sterne|sermons]]. Sterne died in 1768 and was buried in the yard of [[St George's, Hanover Square]].
==Biography==
===Early life===
Laurence Sterne was born in [[Clonmel]], [[County Tipperary]], in the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] on 24 November 1713.{{sfn|Keymer|2009|p=xii}} His father, Roger Sterne, was an [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]] in a British regiment recently returned from [[Dunkirk, France|Dunkirk]].{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=20–21}} Roger's social standing was far lower than that of his recent ancestors: Roger's grandfather [[Richard Sterne (bishop)|Richard Sterne]] had been the [[Archbishop of York]].{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=22–23}} Roger was the second son of Richard's second son, and consequently, Roger inherited little of the familial wealth.{{sfn |New |2014}} Roger left his family to join the army at the age of 25; he enlisted uncommissioned, which was unusual for someone from a family of high social position.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=23–24}} Roger married Agnes Herbert {{nee}} Nuttall, the widow of a military captain, in 1711.{{sfn|Sichel|1971|p=8}}{{sfn |New |2014}} Laurence was the second of their seven children,{{sfn |New |2014}} one of only three to survive to adulthood.{{sfn|Ross|2001|p=29}}
The first decade of Laurence Sterne's life was impoverished and unsettled.{{sfn|Clare|2016|pp=16–17}} After his birth, the family spent six months in Clonmel, then ten months at Roger's mother's estate in [[Elvington, North Yorkshire|Elvington]], [[North Yorkshire]], while Roger had no army posting.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=21–23}} From 1715 to 1723, the Sternes moved repeatedly (about once a year) between poor family lodgings in army barracks in Britain and Ireland,{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=27–29}} with brief ownership of a townhouse in [[Dublin]] during a particularly prosperous stint from 1717 to 1719.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=26}} These postings included three separate moves to Dublin, at other times living in [[Plymouth]], the [[Isle of Wight]], [[Wicklow]], [[Annamoe]], and [[Carrickfergus]].{{sfn|Day}} In 1723, at the age of ten, Sterne was relocated to his uncle's household in [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]], on the condition that he would repay his uncle for the cost of his upkeep and education.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=32–33}} This arrangement reflected both the poor financial resources of Sterne's father, and the strained relationship he had with his wealthier family members.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=32–33}} Sterne never saw his father again, as Roger was next ordered to [[Jamaica]] where he died of malaria in 1731.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=29–30}}
===Education and ecclesiastical career===
Sterne attended boarding school at [[Hipperholme Grammar School]] in [[Yorkshire]], near his uncle's estate.{{sfn|Ross|2001|p=33}} There, he received a traditional [[classics|classical]] education.{{sfn|Ross|2001|p=34}} In July 1733, at the age of twenty, he was admitted to [[Jesus College, Cambridge]] with a [[sizar]]ship that allowed him to afford attendance.{{sfn|Ross|2001|pp=36–37}} He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in January 1737.{{sfn|Ross|2001|pp=43–44}} Sterne was ordained as a [[deacon]] on 6 March 1737<ref>{{Cite web |title=Laurence Sterne's holy orders |url=https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/laurence-sternes-holy-orders |access-date=7 February 2020 |website=British Library }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and as a priest on 20 August 1738.{{sfn|Sichel|1971|p=27}} He returned to Cambridge in the summer of 1740 to be awarded his [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]].{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=43–44}} His religion is said to have been the "centrist [[Anglicanism]] of his time", known as [[latitudinarian]]ism.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26412 |title=Laurence Sterne |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/26412 |access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref> A few days after his ordination as a priest, Sterne was awarded the vicarage living of [[Sutton-on-the-Forest]] in Yorkshire.{{sfn|Ross|2001|pp=48–49}}
Sterne married Elizabeth Lumley on 30 March 1741, despite both being ill with [[Tuberculosis|consumption]].{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=58–60}} Only one of their several children survived infancy, a daughter named Lydia.{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=3}} Throughout their marriage, Sterne had adulterous affairs, and developed "an unsavoury but deserved reputation as a libertine".{{Sfn|Ross|2001|pp=3–4}}
In 1743, he was presented to the neighbouring [[Benefice|living]] of [[Stillington, North Yorkshire|Stillington]] by Reverend Richard [[Levett]], prebendary of Stillington, who was patron of the living. Subsequently, Sterne did duty both there and at Sutton.{{sfn |Cross |1909 |p=54}} Sterne lived in Sutton for 20 years, during which time he continued a close friendship that had begun at Cambridge with [[John Hall-Stevenson]], a witty and accomplished ''bon vivant'', owner of [[Skelton Hall]] in the [[Cleveland, England|Cleveland]] district of Yorkshire.<ref>{{harvnb |Ross |2001 |pp=41–42}}; {{harvnb |Vapereau |1876 |p=1915}}</ref>
Sterne's life at this time was closely tied with his uncle, Jaques Sterne, the [[archdeacon]] of Cleveland and [[precentor]] of York Minster. Sterne's uncle was an ardent [[British Whig Party|Whig]],{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=45–47}} and urged Sterne to begin a career of [[political journalism]].{{sfn |Ross |2001 |pp=64–70, 168–174}} Sterne wrote anonymous [[propaganda]] in the ''York Gazetteer'' from 1741 to 1742.{{sfn |Keymer |2009 |pp=6—7}} Sterne's published attacks on the [[Tory]] party earned him career favours from the church (including a [[prebendary]] of [[York Minster]]), but also harsh personal criticism. Sterne abruptly abandoned his political writing, leading to a permanent falling-out with his uncle, and stalling his ecclesiastical career.{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=3}}
In 1744, Sterne purchased several pieces of farmland in Sutton, with the hope that raising crops and dairy cattle would supplement his household's foodstores and finances.{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=142}} However, the farm was not particularly successful.{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=147}} Meanwhile, he sought [[patronage]] from [[John Fountayne]], a college acquaintance who became [[Dean of York]] in 1747.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Sterne and Sterneana : C.13.79 |url=https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-TRINITY-C-00013-00079/1 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Cambridge Digital Library}}</ref> To earn Fountayne's favor, Sterne wrote the Latin sermon which Fountayne preached in order to earn his [[Doctor of Divinity|doctorate of divinity]].{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=186}} In 1751, Fountayne granted Sterne a very minor post, the [[Commissary|commisaryship]] of [[Pocklington]] and [[Pickering, North Yorkshire|Pickering]].<ref name=":4" /> In 1758, Sterne gave up directly farming his land, and leased the property out.{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=147}} He relocated to York to assist Fountayne with bureaucratic tasks, in hopes of further preferment.<ref name=":4" />
===Writing===
[[File:The south entrance to Shandy Hall showing the gates.jpg|thumb|left|[[Shandy Hall]], Sterne's home in [[Coxwold]], North Yorkshire]]
In 1759, Sterne contributed to a [[pamphlet war]] related to Fountayne's rivalries within the church. Fountayne was criticized by an ambitious ecclesiastical lawyer, Francis Topham, who complained that he had been unfairly passed over for the commissaryship granted to Sterne.<ref name=":4" /> Topham and Fountayne published a series of [[open letter]]s criticizing each other, which spurred several replies from their acquaintance.{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=187}} Sterne published ''[[A Political Romance]]'' in January 1759, a satirical work with unflattering caricatures of Fountayne's critics.{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=189}} Unusually for a pamphlet, Sterne explicitly attached his name to the work.{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=192}} The [[John Gilbert (archbishop of York)|Archbishop of York]] was embarrassed by how public the church's internal disputes had become, and ordered all 500 copies of ''A Political Romance'' burned. Sterne complied, but a handful of copies accidentally survived from other owners.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |p=193}}
Despite its lack of success, ''A Political Romance'' was a turning point for Sterne. He later wrote that, before finishing it, "he hardly knew he could write at all, much less with humour, so as to make his reader laugh."{{sfn |Ross |2001 |p=197}} At the age of 46, Sterne dedicated himself to writing for the rest of his life. He immediately began work on his best-known novel, ''[[The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman]]'', the first volumes of which were published in 1759. Sterne was at work on his celebrated comic novel during the year that his mother died, his wife was seriously ill, and his daughter was also taken ill with a fever.<ref>"Cross (1908), chap. 8, The Publication of Tristram Shandy: Volumes I and II, p. 197</ref> He wrote as fast as he possibly could, composing the first 18 chapters between January and March 1759.<ref name="Cross178">Cross (1908), chap. 8, ''The Publication of Tristram Shandy: Volumes I and II'', p. 178.</ref> Sterne borrowed money for the printing of his novel, suggesting that he was confident in the prospective commercial success of his work.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |p=213}}
The publication of ''Tristram Shandy'' made Sterne famous in London and on the continent. He was delighted by the attention, famously saying, "I wrote not [to] be ''fed'' but to be ''famous''."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fanning |first=Christopher |title=Sterne and print culture |journal=The Cambridge Companion to Laurence Sterne |pages=125–141}}</ref> He spent part of each year in London, being fêted as new volumes appeared.<ref name=":3" /> As Sterne assiduously promoted his book, some of the attention he received was scandal: at the time, it was slightly disreputable for any gentleman to write for financial gain; for a clergyman to appear motivated by money, and to use "indecent" humour to pursue it, was doubly questionable.{{Sfn|Ross|2001|p=14}} Sterne's bawdiness was criticized in a series of 1760s pamphlets, and he was encouraged to "mend his style" by the [[William Warburton|Bishop of Gloucester]].{{Sfn|Ross|2001|pp=15–16}} Even after the publication of volumes three and four of ''Tristram Shandy'', Sterne's love of attention (especially as related to financial success) remained undiminished. In one letter, he wrote, "One half of the town abuse my book as bitterly, as the other half cry it up to the skies — the best is, they abuse it and buy it, and at such a rate, that we are going on with a second edition, as fast as possible."<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=The Letters of Laurence Sterne: Part One, 1739–1764 |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=2009 |isbn=978-0813032368 |pages=129–130}}</ref> [[Baron Fauconberg]] rewarded Sterne by appointing him as the perpetual [[curate]] of [[Coxwold]] in the North Riding of Yorkshire in March 1760.{{sfn |Howes |1971 |p=55}}
In 1766, in the early days of British debates about slavery, the composer and former slave [[Ignatius Sancho]] wrote to Sterne,<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.brycchancarey.com/Carey_BJECS_2003.pdf |title=The extraordinary Negro': Ignatius Sancho, Joseph Jekyll, and the Problem of Biography |author=Carey, Brycchan |journal=Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies |date=March 2003 |volume=26 |number=1 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1111/j.1754-0208.2003.tb00257.x}}</ref> encouraging him to use his pen to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ignatius Sancho: an African Man of Letters |chapter=Director's Forward |author=Phillips, Caryl |publisher=National Portrait Gallery |___location=London |date=December 1996 |page=12}}</ref> Sterne wrote back to say that he had just written a scene sympathizing with the oppression of a black servant, which appeared in the next published volume of ''Tristram Shandy''.<ref name="Norton">{{Cite web |url=http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/noa/pdf/27636_Rest_U12_Sancho.pdf |title=Ignatius Sancho and Laurence Sterne |publisher=Norton}}</ref> Sterne's widely publicised response to Sancho's letter became an integral part of 18th-century abolitionist literature.<ref name="Norton"/>
===Foreign travel===
{{further|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War|France in the Seven Years' War}}
[[File:Laurence Sterne by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle.jpg|thumb|upright|Sterne painted in [[Watercolor painting|watercolour]] by French artist [[Louis Carrogis Carmontelle]], {{circa|1762}}]]
Struggling again with his ill health, Sterne departed England for France in 1762 in an effort to find a climate that would alleviate his suffering. Sterne attached himself to a diplomatic party bound for [[Turin]], as England and France were still adversaries in the [[Seven Years' War]]. Sterne was gratified by his reception in France, where reports of the genius of ''Tristram Shandy'' made him a celebrity.<ref name="encyclo">{{Cite book |title=The New Encyclopaedia Britannica |date=1985 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |___location=Chicago |pages=256–257 |isbn=0852294239}}</ref> He stayed in France until 1764, followed by a trip through France and Italy from 1765 to 1766.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Descargues |first=Madeleine |date=1994 |title=French Reflections : On a Few Reflections of the French in Sterne's Letters and A Sentimental Journey |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/xvii_0291-3798_1994_num_38_1_1301 |journal=XVII-XVIII. Revue de la Société d'études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=255–269 |doi=10.3406/xvii.1994.1301}}</ref> Aspects of his experiences abroad were incorporated into Sterne's second novel, ''[[A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy]]''.<ref name="encyclo"/>
===Eliza===
Early in 1767, Sterne met [[Eliza Draper]], the wife of an official of the [[East India Company]], while she was staying on her own in London.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |p=360}} He was captivated by Eliza's charm and vivacity, and they began a mutual flirtation.<ref>{{harvnb |Ross |2001 |p=361}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Sterne |first1=Laurence |title=The Project Gutenberg EBook of the Journal to Eliza and Various letters |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/60563/60563-h/60563-h.htm |website=Project Gutenberg |access-date=10 February 2020}}</ref> They met frequently and exchanged miniature portraits. Sterne's admiration turned into an obsession, which he took no trouble to conceal. To his great distress, Eliza had to return to India three months after their first meeting, and he died a year later without seeing her again. In 1768, Sterne published his ''Sentimental Journey'', which contains some extravagant references to her; and their relationship aroused considerable interest. He also wrote his ''[[Journal to Eliza]]'', part of which he sent to her, and the rest of which came to light when it was presented to the [[British Museum]] in 1894. After Sterne's death, Eliza allowed ten of his letters to be published under the title ''Letters from Yorick to Eliza'' and succeeded in suppressing her letters to him, though some blatant forgeries were produced in a volume of ''Eliza's Letters to Yorick''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sclater |first=William Lutley |title= Sterne's Eliza; some account of her life in India: with her letters written between 1757 and 1774 |publisher=W. Heinemann |year=1922 |___location=London |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924020369124#page/n59/mode/2up |pages=45–58}}</ref>
=== Death ===
[[File:Laurence Sterne by Joseph Nollekens, 1766, National Portrait Gallery, London.JPG|thumb|upright|Portrait bust by [[Joseph Nollekens]], 1766, National Portrait Gallery, London]]
Less than a month after ''Sentimental Journey'' was published, Sterne died in his lodgings at 41 [[Old Bond Street]] on 18 March 1768, at the age of 54.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |p=415}} He was buried in the churchyard of [[St George's, Hanover Square]], on 22 March.{{sfn |Ross |2001 |p=419}}
It was rumoured that Sterne's body was stolen shortly after it was interred and sold to [[anatomist]]s at Cambridge University. Circumstantially, it was said that his body was recognised by [[Charles Collignon (surgeon)|Charles Collignon]], who knew him<ref name="arnold">{{Cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=Catherine |title=Necropolis: London and Its Dead |via=Google Books |date=2008 |isbn=978-1847394934 |page=contents |publisher=Simon and Schuster |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1847394930}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb |Ross |2001 |pp=419–420}}</ref> and discreetly reinterred him back in St George's, in an unknown plot. A year later a group of [[Freemason]]s erected a memorial stone with a rhyming epitaph near to his original burial place. A second stone was erected in 1893, correcting some factual errors on the memorial stone. When the [[churchyard]] of St. George's was redeveloped in 1969, amongst 11,500 skulls disinterred, several were identified with drastic cuts from anatomising or a post-mortem examination. One was identified to be of a size that matched a bust of Sterne made by Nollekens.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Is this the skull of Sterne? |newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=5 June 1969|issue=57578|page=1|issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb |Loftis |Kellar |Ulevich |2018 |pp=220, 227}}</ref> The skull was held up to be his, albeit with "a certain area of doubt".{{sfn|Loftis|Kellar|Ulevich|2018|p=220}} Along with nearby skeletal bones, these remains were transferred to [[Coxwold]] [[churchyard]] in 1969 by the Laurence Sterne Trust.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Green |first1=Carole |title=Laurence Sterne |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/content/articles/2009/03/11/laurence_sterne_profile_feature.shtml |access-date=4 March 2020 |work=BBC |date=13 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Laurence Sterne and the Laurence Sterne Trust |url=https://www.laurencesternetrust.org.uk/the-laurence-sterne-trust.php |website=The Laurence Sterne Trust |publisher=Laurence Sterne Trust |access-date=4 March 2020}}</ref><ref>''Alas, Poor Yorick'', Letters, The Times, 16 June 1969, Kenneth Monkman, Laurence Sterne Trust. "If we have reburied the wrong one, nobody, I feel beyond reasonable doubt, would enjoy the situation more than Sterne"</ref> The story of the reinterment of Sterne's skull in Coxwold is alluded to in [[Malcolm Bradbury]]'s novel ''To the Hermitage''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Suciu |first1=Andreia Irina |title=The Sense of History in Malcolm Bradbury's Work |journal=Economy Transdisciplinarity Cognition |date=2009 |issue=2 |pages=152–160 |id={{ProQuest|757935757}} }}</ref>
== Works ==
[[File:Tristram Shandy First edition spines.jpg|thumb|First edition of ''Tristram Shandy'', printed in nine volumes, part of the collection of the Laurence Sterne Trust at [[Shandy Hall]] ]]
The works of Laurence Sterne are few in comparison to other eighteenth-century authors of comparable stature.{{sfn |New |1972 |p=1083}} Sterne's early works were letters; he had two sermons published (in 1747 and 1750) and tried his hand at satire.{{sfn |Washington |2017 |p=333}} He was involved in and wrote about local politics in 1742.{{sfn |Washington |2017 |p=333}} His major publication prior to ''Tristram Shandy'' was the satire ''[[A Political Romance]]'' (1759), aimed at conflicts of interest within [[York Minster]].{{sfn|Washington|2017|p=333}} A posthumously published piece on the art of preaching, ''[[A Rabelaisian Fragment|A Fragment in the Manner of Rabelais]]'', appears to have been written in 1759.{{sfn |New |1972 |pp=1083–1091}} [[François Rabelais|Rabelais]] was by far Sterne's favourite author, and in his correspondence, he made clear that he considered himself as Rabelais' successor in humour writing, distancing himself from [[Jonathan Swift]].<ref>Huntington Brown (1967), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=6NRZpJATd44C Rabelais in English literature]'' pp. 190–191.</ref><ref>Cross (1908), chap. 8, ''The Publication of Tristram Shandy: Volumes I and II'', p. 179.</ref>
Sterne's novel ''[[The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman]]'' sold widely in England and throughout Europe.{{sfn|Cash|1975|p=296}} Translations of the work began to appear in all the major European languages almost immediately upon its publication.{{sfn|Large|2017|p=294}} The novel itself starts with the narration, by Tristram, of his own conception. It proceeds mostly by what Sterne calls "progressive digressions" so that we do not reach Tristram's birth before the third volume.<ref>{{harvnb|Descargues-Grant|2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Graham |first1=Thomas |date=17 June 2019 |title=The best comic novel ever written? |url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190521-is-this-the-best-shaggy-dog-story-ever-written |access-date=26 February 2020 |work=BBC}}</ref> The novel is rich in characters and humour, and the influences of [[François Rabelais|Rabelais]] and [[Miguel de Cervantes]] are present throughout. The novel ends after 9 volumes, published over a decade, but without anything that might be considered a traditional conclusion. Sterne inserts sermons, essays and legal documents into the pages of his novel; and he explores the limits of typography and print design by including marbled pages and an entirely black page within the narrative.{{sfn|Washington|2017|p=333}}
English writer and [[literary critic]] [[Samuel Johnson]]'s verdict in 1776 was that "Nothing odd will do long. ''Tristram Shandy'' did not last."<ref>James Boswell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tcYUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA422 ''The Life of Samuel Johnson…''], ed. Malone, vol. II (London: 1824) p. 422.</ref> This is strikingly different from the views of continental European critics of the day, who praised Sterne and ''Tristram Shandy'' as innovative and superior. [[Voltaire]] called it "clearly superior to [[François Rabelais|Rabelais]]", and later [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]] praised Sterne as "the most beautiful spirit that ever lived".{{sfn|Washington|2017|p=333}} Swedish translator Johan Rundahl described Sterne as an [[sensibility|arch-sentimentalist]].{{sfn|de Voogd|Neubauer|2004|p=118}} Sterne influenced European writers as diverse as [[Denis Diderot]]{{sfn|Cash|1975|p=139}} and the [[Romanticism|German Romanticists]].{{sfn|Large|2017|p=294}} His work also had noticeable influence over [[Brazil]]ian author [[Machado de Assis]], who made use of the digressive technique in the novel ''[[The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas]]''.{{sfn|Barbosa|1992|p=28}} The [[Russian Formalism|Russian Formalist]] writer [[Viktor Shklovsky]] regarded ''Tristram Shandy'' as the archetypal, quintessential novel, "the most typical novel of world literature."{{sfn|Gratchev|Mancing|2019|p=139}} Many of the innovations that Sterne introduced, adaptations in form that were an exploration of what constitutes the novel, were highly influential to [[Modernism|Modernist]] writers like [[James Joyce]] and [[Virginia Woolf]], and more recent writers such as [[Thomas Pynchon]] and [[David Foster Wallace]].{{sfn|Washington|2017|p=334}} [[Italo Calvino]] referred to ''Tristram Shandy'' as the "undoubted progenitor of all avant-garde novels of our century".{{sfn|Washington|2017|p=334}} More recently, scholarly opinions of ''Tristram Shandy'' include those who minimize its significance as an innovation. Since the 1950s, following the lead of D. W. Jefferson, there are those who argue that, whatever its legacy of influence may be, ''Tristram Shandy'' in its original context actually represents a resurgence of a much older, [[Renaissance]] tradition of "Learned Wit" – owing a debt to such influences as the [[Scriblerus Club|Scriblerian]] approach.<ref>{{harvnb|Jefferson|1951}}; {{harvnb|Keymer|2002|pp=4–11}}</ref>
Sterne's final novel, ''[[A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy]]'', has many stylistic parallels with ''Tristram Shandy'', and the narrator is one of the minor characters from the earlier novel.{{sfn|Viviès|1994|pp=246–247}} At its first publication, ''A Sentimental Journey'' was warmly received by readers who saw it as more sentimental and less bawdy than ''Tristram Shandy''.{{sfn|Gerard|Newbould|2021}} From Sterne's death through the nineteenth century, ''A Sentimental Journey'' was considered Sterne's best and most beloved work, and it was more widely reprinted than ''Tristram Shandy''.{{sfn|Keymer|2009|pp=79–94}} Today, ''A Sentimental Journey'' is often interpreted by critics as part of the same artistic project to which ''Tristram Shandy'' belongs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Line |first1=Anne |title=Two Englishmen in France: A Comparison of Laurence Sterne's Book 7 of 'Tristram Shandy' and 'A Sentimental Journey' |url=https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/25302 |website=University of Oslo Research Archive |date=2003 |publisher=University of Oslo}}</ref> In addition to his fiction, two volumes of Sterne's ''Sermons'' were published during his lifetime; more copies of his ''Sermons'' were sold in his lifetime than copies of ''Tristram Shandy''.{{sfn|Ross|2001|p=245}} In the years after Sterne's death, his family published additional sermons,<ref name=":0" /> as well as [[letter collection]]s of his correspondence.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
==Publication history==
*1743 – ''The Unknown World: Verses Occasioned by Hearing a Pass-Bell'' (disputed, possibly written by [[Hubert Stogdon]])<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1525/hlq.2011.74.1.85|title='The Unknown World': The Poem Laurence Sterne Did Not Write|year=2011|last1=New|first1=Melvyn|journal=Huntington Library Quarterly|volume=74|issue=1|pages=85–98|jstor=10.1525/hlq.2011.74.1.85}}</ref>
*1747 – "The Case of Elijah and the Widow of Zerephath"
*1750 – "The Abuses of Conscience"
*1759 – ''A Political Romance''
*1759 – ''Tristram Shandy'' vols. 1 and 2
*1760 – ''The Sermons of Mr. Yorick'' vol. 1 and 2
*1761 – ''Tristram Shandy'' vols. 3–6
*1765 – ''Tristram Shandy'' vols. 7 and 8
*1766 – ''The Sermons of Mr. Yorick'' vols. 3 and 4
*1767 – ''Tristram Shandy'' vol. 9
*1768 – ''A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy''
*1769 – ''Sermons by the Late Rev. Mr. Sterne'' vols. 5–7 (a continuation of ''The Sermons of Mr. Yorick'')<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Sterne|first=Laurence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ym_TC8IjCewC|title=Works of Laurence Sterne|date=1851|publisher=Bohn}}</ref>
*1773 – ''Letters from Yorick to Eliza''<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Sterne |first=Laurence |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecco;idno=004792519.0001.000 |title=Letters from Yorick to Eliza |date=1773}}</ref>
*1775 – ''Letters of the Late Rev. Mr. Laurence Sterne''<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Sterne |first=Laurence |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecco;idno=004792533.0001.001 |title=Letters of the late Rev. Mr. Laurence Sterne, to his most intimate friends. With a fragment in the manner of Rabelais. To which are prefix'd, memoirs of his life and family. Written by himself. And published by his daughter, Mrs. Medalle. In three volumes.: [pt.1] |date=1775}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[List of abolitionist forerunners]]
*[[List of Irish writers]]
==Citations==
{{Reflist}}
==References==
*{{Cite journal |last1=Barbosa |first1=Maria José Somerlate |title=Sterne and Machado: Parodic and Intertextual Play in 'Tristram Shandy' and 'Memórias' |journal=The Comparatist |date=May 1992 |volume=16 |pages=24–48 |jstor=44366842 |doi=10.1353/com.1992.0014 |s2cid=201767984 }}
*{{Cite book |last1=Cash |first1=Arthur H. |author-link=Arthur H. Cash |title=Laurence Sterne: The Early & Middle Years |date=1975 |publisher=Methuen & Co |___location=London |isbn=041682210X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/laurencesterneea0000cash }}
*{{Cite journal |last1=Clare |first1=David |title=Under-regarded Roots: The Irish References in Sterne's Tristram Shandy |journal=The Irish Review |date=2016 |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=15–26 |isbn=9781782050629}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Wilbur L. |title=The Life and Times of Laurence Sterne |date=1909 |publisher=The Macmillan Company |___location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflaure00cros |page=[https://archive.org/details/lifetimesoflaure00cros/page/53 53] |quote=Laurence Sterne Stillington Rev. Richard Levett.}}
*{{Cite web |last=Day |first=W.G. |title=Key Dates in Laurence Sterne's Life |url=https://www.laurencesternetrust.org.uk/sterne/life-and-times/key-dates/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250116021209/https://www.laurencesternetrust.org.uk/sterne/life-and-times/key-dates/ |archive-date=16 January 2025 |access-date=16 January 2025 |website=Shandy Hall: The Laurence Sterne Trust |language=en-US}}
*{{Cite journal |last1=Descargues-Grant |first1=Madeleine |title=The Obstetrics of Tristram Shandy |journal=Études anglaises |date=2006 |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=401–413 |doi=10.3917/etan.594.0401 }}
*{{Cite book |editor1-last=de Voogd |editor1-first=Peter |editor2-last=Neubauer |editor2-first=John |title=The Reception of Laurence Sterne in Europe |date=2004 |publisher=Thoemmes Continuum |___location=London |isbn=0826461344 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdLUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Gerard |first1=W.B. |title=Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey: A Legacy to the World |last2=Newbould |first2=M-C. |publisher=Bucknell University Press |year=2021 |chapter=Introduction: ''A Sentimental Journey''’s Critical Legacies}}
*{{Cite book |editor1-last=Gratchev |editor1-first=Slav N. |editor2-last=Mancing |editor2-first=Howard |title=Viktor Shklovsky's Heritage in Literature, Arts, and Philosophy |date=2019 |publisher=Lexington Books |___location=Lanham |isbn=9781498597937 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MwqiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA139}}
*{{Cite book |editor1-last=Howes |editor1-first=Alan B. |title=Laurence Sterne: The Critical Heritage |date=1971 |publisher=Routledge |___location=London |isbn=0415134250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhGGAgAAQBAJ&q=%22he+hardly+knew+that+he+could+write+at+all,+much+less+with+humour+so+as+to+make+his+reader+laugh%22&pg=PA60 |access-date=10 February 2020}}
*{{Cite journal |last1=Jefferson |first1=D.W. |title=Tristram Shandy and the Tradition of Learned Wit |journal=Essays in Criticism |date=July 1951 |volume=I |issue=3 |pages=225–248 |doi=10.1093/eic/I.3.225 |url=https://academic.oup.com/eic/article/I/3/225/429749 |url-access=subscription }}
*{{Cite book |last1=Keymer |first1=Thomas |title=The Cambridge Companion to Laurence Sterne |date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |___location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521849722}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Keymer |first1=Thomas |title=Sterne, the Moderns, and the Novel |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |___location=New York |isbn=0199245924}}
*{{Cite journal |last1=Large |first1=Duncan |title='Lorenz Sterne' among German philosophers: reception and influence |journal=Textual Practice |date=2017 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=283–297 |doi=10.1080/0950236X.2016.1228847 |s2cid=171978531 |url=https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/60054/1/Accepted_manuscript.pdf }}
*{{Cite book |editor1-last=Loftis |editor1-first=Sonya Freeman |editor2-last=Kellar |editor2-first=Allison |editor3-last=Ulevich |editor3-first=Lisa |title=Shakespeare's Hamlet in an Era of Textual Exhaustion |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |___location=New York |isbn=9781315265537 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y25ADwAAQBAJ&pg=PT307}}
*{{Cite journal |last1=New |first1=Melvyn |title=Sterne's Rabelaisian Fragment: A Text from the Holograph Manuscript |journal=PMLA |date=October 1972 |volume=87 |issue=5 |pages=1083–1092 |jstor=461185 |doi=10.2307/461185 |s2cid=163743375 }}
*{{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/26412|title=Sterne, Laurence|first=Melvyn|last=New|year=2014}}
*{{Cite book |editor1-last=Pierce |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=de Voogd |editor2-first=Peter |title=Laurence Sterne in Modernism and Postmodernism |date=1996 |publisher=Rodopi |___location=Amsterdam |isbn=9042000023 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfEVvBxCobsC&pg=PA15}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Ian Campbell |title=Laurence Sterne: A Life |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |___location=New York |isbn=0192122355 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/laurencesterneli0000ross }}
*{{Cite book |last1=Sichel |first1=Walter |title=Sterne: A Study |date=1971 |publisher=Haskell House Publishers |___location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HkAvzk_CS4C&q=Laurence+Sterne+priest+August+1738&pg=PA27}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Vapereau |first1=Gustave |title=Dictionnaire universal des littératures |date=1876 |publisher=Librairie Hachette |___location=Paris |page=1915 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWatfcgpB8UC&q=John+Hall-Stevenson+bon+vivant&pg=PA1915}}
*{{Cite journal |last1=Viviès |first1=Jean |title=A Sentimental Journey, or Reading Rewarded |journal=Bulletin de la société d'études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles |date=1994 |volume=38 |url=https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/xvii_0291-3798_1994_num_38_1_1300.pdf }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*{{Cite book |last1=Washington |first1=Ellis |title=The Progressive Revolution: History of Liberal Fascism through the Ages |date=2017 |publisher=Hamilton Books |___location=Lanham |isbn=9780761868507 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_LycDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA334}}
==Further reading==
*René Bosch, ''Labyrinth of Digressions: Tristram Shandy as Perceived and Influenced by Sterne's Early Imitators'' (Amsterdam, 2007)
*
*
*
*
*{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/sterne010824mbp|title=Sterne|last=H. D. Traill|publisher=Harper & Brothers Publishers|via=Internet Archive |ref=none}}
*Texte, ''Rousseau et le cosmopolitisme littôraire au XVIIIème siècle'' (Paris, 1895)
*
*
*
* Rousseau, George S. (2004). ''Nervous Acts: Essays on Literature, Culture and Sensibility.'' Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. {{ISBN|1-4039-3454-1}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Pfister |first1=Manfred |title=Laurence Sterne |date=2001 |publisher=Northcote House Publishers |___location=Devon |isbn=074630837X|ref=none}}
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*{{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/laurence-sterne}}
*{{Gutenberg author |id=419 |name=Laurence Sterne}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Laurence Sterne}}
*
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0418phf Tristram Shandy] ([https://www.bbc.co.uk/inourtimeprototype/episode/b0418phf beta]) [[In Our Time (radio series)|''In Our Time'']] – [[BBC Radio 4]]
*[https://books.google.com/books?q=Laurence+Sterne&btnG=Search+Books&as_brr=1 Laurence Sterne at the Google Books Search]
*[http://www.tristramshandyweb.it "Tristram Shandy". Annotated, with bibliography, criticism.]
*[https://rsparlourtricks.blogspot.com/2005/11/scrapbook-mind-of-laurence-sterne.html Ron Schuler's Parlour Tricks: The Scrapbook Mind of Laurence Sterne]
*[http://www.gasl.org/refbib/Sterne__Shandy_Journey.pdf ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy'' & ''A Sentimental Journey'']. Munich: Edited by Günter Jürgensmeier, 2005
*[http://www.shandean.org The Shandean: A Journal Devoted to the Works of Laurence Sterne (tables of contents available online)]
*[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp04289 Laurence Sterne] at the [[National Portrait Gallery, London]]
*[http://www.laurencesternetrust.org.uk The Laurence Sterne Trust]
*{{LCAuth|n79073616|Laurence Sterne|182|ue}}
*[https://cdm15999.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15999coll31/id/8738 Anonymous parodies of the kinds of letters written by Elizabeth Draper to Laurence Sterne (as Yorick)], MSS SC 4, [[L. Tom Perry Special Collections]], [[Harold B. Lee Library]], [[Brigham Young University]]
{{Laurence Sterne}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sterne, Laurence}}
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