The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is an ironic masterpiece, a work of extraordinary originality, wit, and learning. It is a work of considerable philosophical complexity but at the same time it is just a piece of nonsense and has been called the longest “shaggy dog” story in English literature. It is both a classic novel and an anti-novel. It includes passages of seemingly serious theology—but it can also be read as an elaborate bawdy joke that revels in its satire.

Seemingly impossible to fully pin down, Tristram Shandy remains as surprising a work of literature today as it was when first published over 200 years ago.