The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (or Tristram Shandy) is a novel by Laurence Sterne. It was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1759, and seven others following over the next seven years (vols. 3 and 4, 1761; vols. 5 and 6, 1762; vols. 7 and 8, 1765; vol. 9, 1767). It purports to be a biography of the eponymous character. Its style is marked by digression, double entendre, and graphic devices. Sterne had read widely, which is reflected in "Tristram Shandy". Many of his similes, for
John Hall-Stevenson the result that in 1760 Hall-Stevenson abused Smollett and his associates in "A Nosegay and a Simile for the Reviewers" and "Two Lyrical Epistles, or Margery the Cook Maid, to the Critical Reviewers". Hall-Stevenson's "A Sentimental Dialogue between two Souls in the palpable Bodies of an English Lady of Quality and an Irish Gentleman" (1768) was seen as a parody of his friend Sterne's "Tristram Shandy". Hall-Stevenson also wrote on politics. He denounced the Earl of Bute and all politicians, whether Whig or Tory, with such works as "A Pastoral Cordial; or an Anodyne Sermon, preached before their Graces Newcastle