num_pages: 666
description: 'Nothing odd will do long', said Dr Johnson; 'Tristram Shandy did not last.' But Tristram Shandy has lasted, to be cherished in the century of Joyce and Pirandello perhaps even more than in the eighteenth. No one description will fit this strange, eccentric, endlessly complex masterpiece. It is a novel about writing a novel in which the invented world is as much infused with wit and genius as the theme of inventing it. It is a joyful celebration of the infinite possibilities of the art of fiction, and a wry demonstration of its limitations. It is also, in Christopher Ricks's words, 'the greatest shaggy dog story in the language'.
language: English
title: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
titlecomplete: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
characters: Uncle Toby, Tristram Shandy, Yorick, Mr. Shandy, Mrs. Shandy, Trim
genres: Literature, Classics, Literary Fiction, Novels, English Literature, Classic Literature, 18th Century, Fiction, Humor, British Literature
ratings_count: 21270
publisher: Penguin Books