TRISTRAM SHANDY AND REALISM
Laurence Sterne is an English writer, who was born in Clonmel, Ireland in 24th November 1713. He is one of the best writers in the English Literature with using some realism elements in his works. Laurence Sterne had many masterpieces, but in this article I am going to analyze Tristram Shandy and its features with the aspect of realism.
Despite the fact that realism has many different meaning, it is believed that realism is relating the art by artist into our world with using some artistic elements in the works. When we check on eighteenth century, the idea of realism was taught that literature and reality should correspond to each other. In addition to this, describe an event or a character as if real-life aspect is known as realism. It means an author describes the external life as s/he has seen so the author could write his or her work in realistic features. In Tristram Shandy which was written by Laurence Sterne have some features of realism in many ways.
Tristram Shandy is a novel but it is not in the list of the most popular realistic masterpieces. The novel does not include any factor about realism. First of all, the characters are not real in the aspect of the meaning realism. When we check on the realism, we see that ‘’real’’ man is used in works but in Tristram Shandy’s characters are not real in our world. In contrast to the characters, novel has real events themes in it like birth, marriage, death, love and family relationship. Moreover, Sterne’s reduction and absurdum makes the novel more absurd. In the
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parody of the realism, Sterne makes confused his readers so at the end of the book readers could assume it can be a joke. In the Sterne’s technique, we can see the techniques of subversion when we analyze the book of Tristram Shandy. The life and opinions of the Tristram Shandy is the title of the book and it makes believe its readers that Laurence Sterne has a biography to release. According to Laurence Sterne the book should make surprise and shock the readers rather than apply the rules what readers believe. He never uses the rules of writing tip in realist aspects and thanks to this idea; he achieved to subvert the readers. We can see the first example of the carrying rules far away in the beginning of the novel. In every biography, it begins with birth of hero but in the Tristram Shandy we reached the sentences of his birth on the page of 100. The starting of the book includes conception and description of the coming of the Shandy to the world at the Dr. Slop’s hand. The first dialogue in the book is between Mrs. Shandy and her husband.
Pray my dear, quoth my mother, have you not
forgot to wind up the- clock? – good G !
cried my father, making an exclamation, but
taking care to moderate his voice at the
same time – Did ever woman, since the
creation of the world, interrupt a man with
such a silly question? Pray what was your
father saying? – Nothing.
This dialogue gives two main ideas to the readers. Firstly, the dialogue is between Mrs. Shandy and her husband, secondly the dialogue is between Tristram and readers. In the middle of the book, the story of Tristram is given to us fully. The author explained it by passing the pages. Tristram Shandy was born at the home, a local midwife and a doctor whose name is Dr. Slop help
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to giving birth because of a marriage agreement of Mrs. Shandy. According to the agreement Mrs Shandy was sent to London to get her child. Knowing his or her own character is the main point of creation of great works. But Laurence Sterne does not accept that he cannot know everyone who lives in this world so according to him a man is unknowable in any aspects. In addition to this a person is also not predictable. Everyone could think in different ways so readers can see different points of secret messages. Thanks to this idea, there is no correct statement or feeling in the world and in this novel neither knowing them in correct way;
According to Laurence Sterne, man in the 18th century is taught as unique with his or her brain and feelings but actually it cannot be accepted by other since other writers believe that a person could live just with their brain and decision, there is no need to feelings to decide or live but when we focus on Sterne’s statements we see that a man can act with his brain but the feelings convey or show a correct way to bound together. Being together or bound together make easier our lives to live in the peace and it helps to understand every secret message in it. Tristram gives us some clues about his life. He mentions some digressions about midwife and Yorick who
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is a parson, his love toward the midwife. In addition to this digression, Tristram Shandy gives information about the characteristic features of his father Mr. Shandy and his uncle Toby and also events that he had to cope with. Time and place is another aspect that was destroyed by Laurence Sterne. A clear and real time makes so authentic the story so Laurence Sterne comply it in the beginning of the novel. The readers believed that the novel takes place in England, in Shandy Hall and the date of the first Sunday of month March in 1780s. The main idea of particular time and place in the novel becomes too ridiculous so main idea of the book was usurped by it. Laurence Sterne’s novel is different from other types of works in terms of time issues. In fact, there are 3 kinds of time concept in this novel, narrator’s time which means the real time for now and also the time that shows what happens to Tristram Shandy, reader’s time which means the time of reading by Tristram, and the last one is story time which means the time of events took place in the past. Sterne uses these three time concept in complex way so we can misunderstand what happens while reading the novel. The most important example of this time problem is below.
When we read this statement in the book, we cannot understand what happens now. Because the time of this event already had gone for narrator but there are some results of it now for us nevertheless it is still not taken place in the story time. This makes readers so complicated and also it is one of the most important examples of absurdity of the novel. There will be one
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example of time complexion; All events took place in the past, let’s call it A, we can assume that the writer writes it in the present and we can call it B. The birth of Tristram can be taught is but in the novel every reader thinks that it is B so it makes us so complicated about the time concept. The time concept can be the first important element of works but Laurence Sterne advocates that using chronological order does not have good quality in the works so he denies using it. Laurence Sterne has also unique characterization technique in this novel. Uncle Toby was represented by his hobby-horse is a different method which is used by Sterne. Showing Uncle Toby with his different and unusual hobby shows us that our author makes his character noble person in the novel. Characters of the novel are not ordinary with their life style and behaviors.In this masterpiece, our author tries to emphasize different world in the same time by Yorick and his platonic lover. They belong to different world altough they have same emotions about their lives. So we can see that, living different lives is not the obstacle to have dream or to achieve something from other side of the world. Every person who lives in this world could see and understand in different ways. Reality which is the prominent feature of realism could change from person to person. So understanding the novel could be so difficult and making some comments about it also have some difficulty. We can see this different and difficulty in this novel by saying of Walter Shandy;
The truth was, his road lay so very far on one side, from
that wherein most men travelled, that every object
before him presented a face and section of itself to his eye,
altogether different from the plan and elevation of it seen
by the rest of mankind- In other words, ’twas a different
object -‘and in course was differently considered.
Readers have different mission in this novel comparing to the other works in the realism period. We not only see the readers as friend in the novel, but also as laughter, as a partner of author. Many critics believe that using the readers in different mission make this novel and its author so unique. But there are a lot of same elements of realistic period. One of them is our
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protagonist’s self-consciousness behaviors as a narrator in the book. We can assume that Laurence Sterne is different from earlier writers in the English Literature History especially when we search about them, it can be seen easily that they did not accept to use this self-consciousness style as a narrator and the older authors could not make believe them their works do not belong to the realism movement. If Laurence Sterne follows the earlier author, he could not create his masterpiece. Giving different mission to the protagonist makes it different. So Tristram Shandy is not seen like Moll Flanders. Tristram does not present his own life like Moll Flanders; he presents a ordinary man’s mind even the ordinary man’s world. Laurence Sterne shows Tristram Shandy as a narrator with using different techniques in the novel. For instance; comparing to the other authors in the realism period, he allows Tristram Shandy to present himself to the readers as a writer with the three examples quotation below;
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When we focus on these statements from the novels, it is seen clearly that Tristram Shandy represent and describe himself as he wants.
As a conclusion, freedom is the main point of Laurence Sterne which was using by him while writing his masterpiece Tristram Shandy. Being free makes out author so enjoyful. This technique could allow Laurence Sterne creates his own rules. Tristram Shandy is an example of using own technique and it helps him what will be happen because of Laurence’s will decide what will happen or not. This freedom brings also real life for readers. Thanks to being clear or being free, readers are not deceived by authors who mean the essential thinking of realism. The author also is honest toward readers. According to Laurence Sterne, man in the 18th century is taught as unique with his or her brain and feelings but actually it cannot be accepted by other since other writers believe that a person could live just with their brain and decision, there is no need to feelings to decide or live but when we focus on Sterne’s statements we see that a man can act with his brain but the feelings convey or show a correct way to bound together. Being together or bound together make easier our lives to live in the peace and it helps to understand every secret message in it. Tristram gives us some clues about his life.
In the novel, we can easily that Laurence Sterne tries to create a conceives man as a person who pays attention to the feelings rather than pays attention to the reasoning. Toby and Walter do not agree with each other throughout the novel but we see that Toby can cry for Walter in the middle of the novel so in Tristram Shandy listening to our heat’s voice is better than
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accepting our mind’s order. It makes the novel so sentimental. Listening to the feelings is a feature of the last term of 18th century. At the century of 18th, it was believed that reason was not only the main point of works. Emotions, sensbilities were the major themes of the works. ‘’Cogito ergosum’’ was told by Rousseau and it carried the literature to different aspects of life.
Sterne’s characters are absurd but we cannot ridicule them about their faults. Laurence Sterne advocates that every man in this world can be ridiculous but we can tolerate them. Most probably it is a religion motif of the book. The god can tolerate us with our mistakes and faults but the God never reticulate us. To sum up, the novel has some differences and similarities with the comparing other 18th century works. Readers have different mission in this novel comparing to the other works in the realism period. We not only see the readers as friend in the novel, but also as laughter, as a partner of author. Many critics believe that using the readers in different mission make this novel and its author so unique. But there are a lot of same elements of realistic period. Using self-consciousness, being freedom, feelings that we should listen to, using complex time and place themes are differences but realistic motifs like real world, real man, and real behavior are also its similarities. Laurence Sterne is also different with the comparing earlier writers in the realism period. With the using mimetic realism, he creates absurd realistic masterpiece.
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WORKS CITED
Ridgeway, A. “Two Authors in Search of A Reader”, Ja.mes Joyee Quart erlz , I (1964), 41-51. stedmond, John,M. “Genre and Tristram Shandy-II, PQ, XXXVIII (1959), 36′-51.
The Comic Art of Laurence sterne. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967.
Towers, A.R. “sterne’s Cock and Bull story”, ! XXIV (1957), 12-29.
Traugott, John. Tristram Shandy’s World, sterne’s Philosophea Rhetoric. Berkely, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1954.
Van Ghent, Dorothy. The English Novel, Form and Functio New York: Rinehart & Co., 1953.
watt, Ian. !he Rise of the Novel, Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.
“Realism and the Novelli, Essays in Criticism, II (1952), 376-396.
Willey, Basil. The Eighteenth Century Backgroun. London: Chatto and Windus, 1961.
Kettle, Arnold. .An Introduction to the English NoveVol. I New York: Perennial Library, 1968.
Kraft, Quentin, G. “Against Realism: Some Thoughts on Fiction, Story, and Reality!!, College English, XXXI (1970), 344-354.
Lanham, R.Ae Tristram Shandy: The Games of P1easu~. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1973.
Lehman, B.H. “Of Time, Personality, and the Author”1in Studies in the Comic, University of California Publications in English, III (1941), 234-250.