Graham Petrie Books

'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'.

He launches into conversation with no story to tell, little plan of narration, and a habit of slipping down every side-turning... but there is no getting away from him. 'A sentimental journey' began as an account of a tour by coach through France and Ital