We gather from a
passage in the letter above quoted that as early as January 30
the book had "gained the very favourable opinion" of Mr. Garrick,
afterwards to become the author's intimate friend; and it is certain
that by the time of Sterne's arrival in London, in March, 1760,
_Tristram Shandy_ had become the rage.
To say of this extraordinary work that it defies analysis would be the
merest inadequacy of commonplace. It was meant to defy analysis; it
is of the very essence of its scheme and purpose that it should do so;
and the mere attempt to subject it systematically to any such process
would argue an altogether mistaken conception of the author's intent.
Its full "official" style and title is _The Life and Opinions of
Tristram Shandy, Gent.,_ and it is difficult to say which it contains
the less about--the opinions of Tristram Shandy or the events of
his life. As a matter of fact, its proper description would be "The
Opinions of Tristram Shandy's Father, with some Passages from the Life
of his Uncle." Its claim to be regarded as a biography of its nominal
hero is best illustrated by the fact that Tristram is not born till
the third volume, and not breeched till the sixth; that it is not till
the seventh that he begins to play any active part in the narrative,
appearing then only as a completely colourless and unindividualized
figure, a mere vehicle for the conveyance of Sterne's own Continental
_impressions de voyage_; and that in the last two volumes, which
are entirely taken up with the incident of his uncle's courtship, he
disappears from the story altogether.
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