The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman turned a Yorkshire clergyman into a literary celebrity. Three hundred years after his birth on 24 November 1713, Laurence Sterne’s quirky take on the novel continues to inspire. This video by Dr Mary Newbould of Cambridge University explores Sterne’s lasting impact.
The Sterne Digital Library project, an open-access database providing access to first edition copies of Sterne’s works and works inspired by him. A collaboration between Cambridge University Library, Northumbria University and the Laurence Sterne Trust at Shandy Hall. Hosted by the Cambridge Digital Library project and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
A long-established and perhaps the fullest compendium of Sterne sources on the internet.
A few more are highlighted below.
More information on Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne was a student at Jesus College, Cambridge between 1733 and 1737
National Portrait Gallery portraits of Sterne
You can view the full versions of the pages below with your public library card or by signing in from your institution:
Texts, Research, and Study notes
Tristram Shandy (text of the 3rd edition)
Project Gutenburg (text of the Everyman edition 1912)
Student Guides
Summary, analysis, quizzes – a good start to finding your way round Tristram Shandy.
Similar to above, with full text of the book.
More advanced research is undertaken by:
The International Laurence Sterne Foundation (ILSF)
and published in
Audio and Video
Melvyn Bragg and guests Professor Judith Hawley, Professor John Mullan, and Dr Mary Newbould discuss Tristram Shandy in this Radio 4 podcast.
Podcast discussions
Backlisted podcast: with John Mitchinson, Andy Miller, Kathryn Rundell and Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
A podcast in which the screenwriter and children’s author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who wrote the screenplay for A Cock and Bull Story (the 2005 film adaptation of Tristram Shandy), digresses around the little village of Coxwold in North Yorkshire with Henry Eliot. They discuss Laurence Sterne’s novel and veer off on various tangents as they meander from St Michael’s Church, where Sterne was perpetual curate, to Shandy Hall, where he wrote most of Tristram Shandy. They meet the curator, Patrick Wildgust, who guides them through the eccentric building.
Sterne
Time flies
Revisit some of the many events at Shandy Hall
