Sterne, Tristram, Yorick

Sterne, Tristram, Yorick: Tercentenary Essays on Laurence Sterne derives from the Laurence Sterne Tercentenary Conference held at Royal Holloway, University of London, on July 8–11, 2013. It was attended by some eighty scholars from fourteen countries; the conference heard more than sixty papers. The organizers invited participants to submit revised versions of their contributions for this volume, and the thirteen selected exhibit, it is hoped, the defining features both of the conference and of Sterne studies at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is worth remarking that the selected authors represent seven countries; that Sterne may well be the most internationally accepted of all eighteenth-century English authors is certainly a claim worthy of a sentimental traveler.This collection recognizes three faces of Sterne, beginning with several biographical essays examining, respectively, his celebrity status, family life, politics, and philosophy. The second face is that of Tristram, studied from vantage points provided by ethics, linguistics, gender studies, and comparative literature. The final group of essays examines the face of Yorick as the protagonist of A Sentimental Journey, beginning with an ethnographic study of relationships, moving through questions of identity, and concluding with the possible future of literary studies—a return to aesthetics.

This collection epitomizes not just the state of Sterne scholarship but of literary scholarship in our critical moment. What comes forth is not simply a group of essays that add texture and dimension to an artist and corpus of work growing in stature, but also is an exemplar of how eighteenth-century studies is broadening our understanding of history, art and aesthetics, philosophy, gender studies, and social sciences., Sterne, Tristram, Yorick honours Sterne’s legacy, both literary and cultural, and offers a valuable snapshot of Sterne studies today., [T]he reader of this volume can conclude that Sterne studies are much more healthy and robust than their object of study ever was. Three hundred years after his birth, he retains his capacity to fascinate readers, compelling serious engagement and inspiring laughter, providing a node around which readers organise their mental, social, ethical, and, in many cases, professional lives.

Melvyn New is professor emeritus at the University of Florida and general editor of the recently concluded Florida Edition of the Works of Laurence Sterne in nine volumes.Judith Hawley is professor of eighteenth-century literature at Royal Holloway, University of London, and was a coorganizer of the Tercentenary Sterne Conference.Peter de Voogd is professor emeritus of English at the University of Utrecht, founding editor of The Shandean, and coorganizer of the Tercentenary Sterne Conference.