Sterne's Tristram Shandy: An Analysis
Yet, if they are at all similar to so many intellectuals that I have encountered, they may attempt to rectify their frustration by asking, "okay, but what does this chaos mean? How can we interpret it?" It is here that I would like to interrupt the reader and suggest that Sterne's Tristram Shandy is most significant when we reject interpretation and appreciate the novel for the chaotic creation that it is. Perhaps the most perplexing aspect of the work that one may yearn to dissect is Sterne's weaving in of "unusual" pages. As Müller states, these pages exist to "[disrupt] the uniformity and seriality of the printed book" through their incongruity with the typographical medium (118). By incorporating these "elements from another world," Sterne rebels against the standard conventions of the novel, disturbing his audience in the process (Müller 118). Upon encountering the inky-black pages that follow Yorick's death, or the infamous marbled page, the reader, like so many others, may feel an incessant urge to decipher the meaning behind their unexpected presence. Yet, it seems necessary to advise against this. …show more content…
In this sense, the preserved and unquestioned chaos that defines Sterne's novel is what makes it so valuable. Here, I am reminded of Susan Sontag's (1964) suggestion that we "reject hermeneutics"- that is, interpretation- and instead appreciate literature for its aesthetic and sensory value (Sontag 10). To the reader, then, I mean to suggest that they embrace the Shandean spirit, stop taking everything so seriously, and value the novel for its chaotic nature instead of making the futile effort to dissect and subdue
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