Talk:The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Adaptations
I've removed the following text, as I am certain someone has put it here as a joke. If I'm wrong--if there really is a poet named Irving Washington and he really is a contemporary who is adapting Sterne's novel as an epic poem, then at least a citation would be needed.

The text I deleted:

Shortly after the release of the film, it was further adapted by Irving Washington as an epic poem in 24 books (not yet published in its entirety).

82.33.200.95 (talk) 17:25, 22 November 2007 (UTC): Hi, yeah, that "adaptation" is still there. The reference can't be correct because Irving Washington is a fictional character within Catch-22 and not a poet. Very clever. It might be possible that The Shandean has said something along these lines, but it should be removed until the fictionality is clarified.


 * I took it out again. The fictionality is clear from the reference to April 1 in the Grub Street Grackle page where this is sourced .  I can't tell if the person who keeps adding this is overly credulous or in on the gag, but either way it doesn't belong here.  &middot; rodii &middot;  03:49, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
 * it means washington irving —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.125.110.223 (talk) 19:06, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Whether or not Irving Washington exists I can't say. But the first two books of a comic epic ascribed to him have certainly been published by the Grub Street Grackle(as I have read and enjoyed the first and most of the second). The editor of the zine has affirmed the existence of Mr. Washington in no uncertain terms. In the Late Spring 2007 issue he says: "It has been whispered in the dark corners of the literary establishment that no such person as Irving Washington has ever made his home therein, that he has never existed, and that the complete manuscript of his Shandy is a patent fabrication. I must say I sincerely hope these rumors are themselves only the vagrant draughts of falsifiers; if they should prove true, I would have to conclude that I am out of my senses, and have been for some time. For I believe myself to have spoken directly to several of Mr. Washington's acquaintances, to have compiled a sizable body of his correspondence (which I may print portions of in future volumes as space allows), and indeed to have under my elbow as I write the very manuscript whose reality is so much in doubt." In subsequent issues of the Grackle portions of this correspondence have indeed been published. And I imagine that the burden of proof in this issue lies with the deniers, as two such notable journals as The Shandean and The Grub Street Grackle affirm the existence of Washington's work.--Leavesoflight (talk) 00:18, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Miscellaneous
If the first nine volumes were printed in London around 1760, when was Tristram Shandy first published in North America?

What was the size of the typeface or 'font' in the first few editions of the work? Do all nine editions share the same size of typeface?

Maybe refer to www.cliffnotes.com for a more coherent explanation of the novel's context and purpose, as the page here is a little scant, to say the least. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.203.38.94 (talk) 01:06, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Synopsis
I've added a para at the start giving a bit of explanation on what the book's actually about. I also took out the line: The novel, as it stands, is seen by some as an elaborate and ingeniously-executed pun, because I have no idea what it is supposed to mean. Widsith 08:59, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Mention in the media
There's a good article in First Monday, which mentions this page and errors in it. It would probably be worth taking a look. Cheers. Cormaggio is learning 11:02, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

It seems this is the article you were referring to.--Sum (talk) 16:04, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Who were the originals?
Any idea who were the originals for Phutatorious(sp?), Diduius, Slawkenbergious? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dugong.is.good.tucker (talk • contribs) 14:47, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

One of the things which routinely annoys (used a different word originally) me about wikipedia is the robots. I often don't remember to add the Dugong.is.good.tucker (talk) 14:59, 1 November 2008 (UTC). Please give me a few seconds to remember before some robot "fixes" it for me.

File:George Cruikshank - Tristram Shandy, Plate VIII. The Smoking Batteries.jpg to appear as POTD soon
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:George Cruikshank - Tristram Shandy, Plate VIII. The Smoking Batteries.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on June 19, 2010. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2010-06-19. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks!  howcheng  {chat} 21:17, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

Image donations from the Laurence Sterne Trust
As a result of the Yorkshire Network GLAMwiki Project there are now the first (of hopefully many) donated images from the Laurence Sterne Trust available on Commons: Category:Images from the Laurence Sterne Trust. I hope that they will be useful for illustrating articles related to Sterne and his works. If there are particular topics that you would like to see more of you may want to search the trust's online collections and contact me with requests. You may also find useful resources on the trust's Sterneana pages. Thanks! PatHadley (talk) 14:32, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

Techniques and influences
I think "Techniques and influences" ought to mention The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, in light of its also being a humorous fictional biography told by a somewhat addled narrator who makes digressions so frequent and lengthy as to be a running joke, and also in light of the fact that Tom Jones was probably the most popular novel in English when Sterne was writing Tristram Shandy. Philgoetz (talk) 16:11, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Dashes
The book is full of dashes, but most of them could be deleted and then the book would look "normal." I would be grateful for an ebook of Tristram Shandy without all these dashes, as an experiment.Marcin862 (talk) 13:14, 25 March 2016 (UTC)

Addition of ISBN from Wikidata
Please note that this article's infobox is retrieving an ISBN from Wikidata currently. This is the result of a change made to Infobox book as a result of this RfC. It would be appreciated if an editor took some time to review this ISBN to ensure it is appropriate for the infobox. If it is not, you could consider either correcting the ISBN on Wikidata (preferred) or introducing a blank ISBN parameter in the infobox to block the retrieval from Wikidata. If you do review the ISBN, please respond here so other editors don't duplicate your work. This is an automated message to address concerns that this change did not show up on watchlists. ~ RobTalk 01:24, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

Information that could be added to "Reception and influence" section
The section about "Reception and influence" is fairly complete and well sourced and redacted, can be expanded, as there were more writers influenced by Sterne. One of them was Leo Tolstoy, for which Sterne's example was very important in his first experiments and the creation of his style. Direct sources of this are 1) a list which Tolstoy compiled in his old age, and where he counts Sterne's works between the books that influenced him the most (see for example here: http://www.openculture.com/2014/07/leo-tolstoy-creates-a-list-of-the-50-books-that-influenced-him-most-1891.html (but the same information can be found in other websites) and 2) direct references, admiration and discussion of Sterne in Tolstoy's diaries of his youth (for this one should go to the source material, which is free and accessible on the Inrernet, and search for it). The text added to the article (with the sources) should not be too long, maybe about two sentences, one stating the fact and the second speaking about the influence on Tolstoy's earliest works and the creation of his style. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.78.245.28 (talk) 12:28, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Clockwinding

 * -D Wow!

Is there a connection between the Tristram passage and the Irish song "The German Clockwinder"? Like, one got the idea of (connecting that with the sexual act) from the other - and if so, which way round? 2A02:3035:C14:B03F:1:0:3F09:B5 (talk) 17:05, 25 May 2022 (UTC)