Digressions In Wayne Booth's Tristram

narrator is invested in prolonging the story for maintaining the narration through digressions because he thinks that once the desire of narration is aroused, it become insatiable and narrator’s temptation tends always to be to spin out the story (Chambers 20). According to Wayne Booth, in Tristram Shandy, Stern follows two main stories simultaneously, the story of uncle Toby and the story of Tristram. However, there is no direct connection and clear shift between these two even though digressions about uncle Toby’s modesty and way of life helps readers to understand his story. Until the book six, Tristram’s personal life, his conception, birth is made into public. However, his account of his personal details are always interrupted with digressions about the

In Tristram Shandy, Tristram sometimes endeavours to accommodate workings of clock time with workings of his narrative because the real clock keeps ticking throughout the book through implications of a deteriorating health. For example, before starting the whole digression about the bridges and noses, Tristram says “I must leave him (his father) upon the bed for half an hour-and my uncle Toby in his old fringed chair sitting beside him” (III.xxx.195) so that he can set pace, through which he could end his digression in accordance with the clock time. Nevertheless, his efforts catch up with clock time results in failure because he returns to that same scene after thirty five minutes later. However, Tristram’s failure to catch up with the clock does not necessarily enacts ultimate victory of time over an author or a narrative as Clark Lawlor puts. Instead, as it would be discussed in the next paragraph, through digressions, an author could overcome the victory of time over himself or his/her