Texte remanié de: Thèse de doctorat--Études anglo-américaines--Montpellier 3, 2000. Titre de soutenance : Modèles du sujet dans l'oeuvre romanesque de Laurence Sterne : illustrations et perversions. / Bibliogr. p. 307-356. Index.

The thesis argues that the narratives of the eighteenth-century novels selected for this study demonstrate a conscious manipulation of time and space, and that the consequence of this manipulation is to provide the reader with a unique literary journey through the text. The thesis, in its analysis and comparison of these distinctive journeys, chooses to focus on the narrative techniques which facilitate or hamper progression and continuity within the texts. It particularly concentrates on the impact of these narrative techniques on the reading experience. The first chapter studies and compares texts resorting mainly to the present tense with those predominantly written in the past tense. It examines the effects of the tense used in the narration on the reader's engrossment in the fiction. The second chapter concentrates on the repercussions of the author's choice of a beginning and an ending for his story on the nature of the progression of the narrative. The third chapter is devoted to the destabilising reading journey offered by Tristram Shandy. It examines the numerous techniques which react against continuity and progression in time and in space, and the narrator's motivation behind their use. It shows how the narrative choices of Tristram Shandy place the reader face to face with his own act of reading. The fourth and final chapter is concerned with the role and the status of fictional footnotes in some eighteenth-century prose fictions. It demonstrates the fictional nature of the footnotes in Tom Jones. It argues that fictional footnotes affect the reader's progression across the text in time and in space as well as his understanding of the work of fiction, and this in a fundamental way.

The interjection of a new and dynamically different reading of Lawrence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy is imperative, if scholars want to clearly see many of the hidden facets of the novel that have gone unexamined because of out-dated scholarship. Ian Watt’s assumption that Sterne “would probably have been the supreme figure among eighteenth-century novelists” (291) if he had not tried to be so odd, and the conclusion that he draws, that “Tristram Shandy is not so much a novel as a parody of a novel” (291), is incorrect. Throughout the thesis, I argue that Sterne was not burlesquing other novelists, but instead, was engaging with themes that are now being examined by postmodern theories of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Jean François Lyotard: themes like the impenetrability of identity (“Don’t puzzle me” (TS 7.33.633)), the insufficiency of language (“Well might Locke write a chapter upon the imperfections of words” (5.6.429)), and the unavailability of permanence (“Time wastes too fast” (9.8.754)). I actively engage with their theories to deconstruct unexamined themes inside Tristram Shandy, and illuminate postmodern elements inside the novel. However, I do not argue that Tristram Shandy is postmodern. Instead, I argue that if the reader examines the novel outside of its usual context inside the eighteenth-century novel, there are themes that are apparent in the narrative which have gone unexamined because of the way it has been classified inside academia, and that postmodernist theory allows for these themes to be re-examined in the postmodern culture in which we now reside.

Zugl.: Bonn, Univ., Diss., 2004

Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy is a novel consumed with conversation. The conversations that the characters have with each other and the ongoing conversation between Tristram and the reader all address the importance of communication. This study examines the theme of communication as Sterne presents it in his novel. The first chapter explores the personalities of Walter and Toby Shandy with the assumption that an understanding of their eccentricities will illustrate the reasons for the difficulties they encounter when trying to communicate with others. The relationships between the sexes are the subject for the second chapter. Sterne recognized the opportunity that the barrier of gender afforded him in the development of his theme, and he utilizes these relationships to illustrate the consequences of miscommunication. The final chapter focuses on Tristram’s role as the narrator. His personality and conversations with the reader also speak to the role of communication in the novel.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Amsterdam, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-[232]) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Amsterdam, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-[232]) and index.

Being classified in the ¡§anti-tradition of unclassifiable books,¡¨ Laurence Sterne¡¦s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent. has fascinated generations of readers and critics with its seemingly chaotic richness. The narrator Tristram appears to hide his ultimate purpose and unity beneath a cloak of oddity and confusion, which defies any attempt on the reader¡¦s part to ever pinning it down, and thus opens ground for various debates and critiques. Taking Tristram¡¦s many futile efforts at tracing back the origin of his life as the starting point, this thesis attempts to explore the author-narrator¡¦s deliberate use of oddity and confusion. The impossibility of ever finding a coherent and definite beginning of one¡¦s life is read in my study as a metaphor of one¡¦s losing battle at pinning down the concept of self, the embodiment of the ungraspable subjectivity. Not even Locke¡¦s epistemology or the eighteenth-century knowledge of anthropology can serve as an adequate framework of reference for the account of one¡¦s life, if it is to be interpreted as subjectivity. The fact that men are different from one another arises from their individual hobbyhorse, the manifestation of subjectivity, which resists attempts to be defined exactly and thus makes itself unfathomable. This discovery is the very basis of my reading of Tristram Shandy. Since subjectivity refuses to be grasped, my thesis then proceeds to investigate the way in which Tristram represents this ungraspable subjectivity. The concept of staging is employed in this thesis to explore Sterne¡¦s deployment of subjectivity. On the stage where the many facets of each character¡¦s singular microcosm are presented, it is demonstrated that the reader is also drawn into Tristram¡¦s game play, only with the peculiar result that in discovering subjectivity (theirs and ours,) we trespass boundary and assume Tristram¡¦s subjectivity.

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2018-04-02T12:13:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 HelciuEinsteinSantosFerreira_DISSERT.pdf: 2028124 bytes, checksum: ec6fdb0da528db53a77117f5df8f769f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2018-04-04T10:46:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 HelciuEinsteinSantosFerreira_DISSERT.pdf: 2028124 bytes, checksum: ec6fdb0da528db53a77117f5df8f769f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-04T10:46:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 HelciuEinsteinSantosFerreira_DISSERT.pdf: 2028124 bytes, checksum: ec6fdb0da528db53a77117f5df8f769f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-23 / O objetivo deste estudo ? fazer uma an?lise estrutural da obra do autor irland?s Laurence Sterne (1713-1768), A Vida e as Opini?es do Cavalheiro Tristram Shandy (The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman), publicada em 1760 e respons?vel por representar uma verdadeira revolu??o est?tica num g?nero liter?rio que j? vinha se consagrado no s?culo XVIII na Inglaterra: o romance. Rompendo com no??es est?ticas predominantes do g?nero romanesco de sua ?poca, Sterne apresenta em sua obra uma narrativa fragmentada, com cap?tulos incompletos e fora de ordem, intermin?veis digress?es e um narrador cuja confiabilidade ? constantemente colocada em quest?o. Partindo da complexidade proporcionada pelas inova??es est?ticas de Sterne, investigaremos as diversas formas pelas quais o autor quebra a narrativa em seu romance. Essas quebras possuem como principal objetivo provocar nos seus leitores uma sensa??o constante de estranhamento e frustra??o, de modo que para se compreender Tristram Shandy ? necess?rio por parte do leitor deixar de lado uma leitura passiva e passar a trabalhar em conjunto com o pr?prio narrador do romance, Tristram, para, dessa forma, compreender as inten??es por tr?s da narrativa fragmentada e ca?tica de Sterne, as quais possuem o prop?sito de provocar o riso e a reflex?o, al?m de revelar uma vis?o sat?rica e cr?tica da sociedade puritana inglesa do s?culo XVIII. Para a an?lise deste trabalho, observaremos as t?cnicas est?ticas e narrativas utilizadas por Sterne que t?m por finalidade causar o estranhamento e alterar a percep??o do leitor, como a fragmenta??o do romance, as mudan?as de ritmo na narrativa e a parodiza??o. Al?m disso, analisaremos como o riso ? provocado atrav?s da carnavaliza??o e da erotiza??o. Por fim, falaremos um pouco sobre os recursos gr?ficos utilizados pelo autor de modo a manter sua marca autoral na obra. Usaremos como base te?rica estudos de Chklovsky (1978), Lotman (1978), Bakhtin (1993), Genette (1995), Reis e Lopes (2000), Arag?o (1980), entre outros. Conclu?mos que as rupturas na narrativa de Sterne possuem o objetivo de criar uma obra capaz de dar aos seus leitores uma experi?ncia ?nica de leitura, revelando por tr?s de sua narrativa fragmentada uma obra de poderosa cr?tica e s?tira social, al?m de um senso de humor extremamente cr?tico e inovador. / The goal of this study is to do a structural analysis of the work of the Irish author Laurence Sterne (1713-1768), The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, published in 1760 and that was remarkable for representing a true aesthetic revolution in a literary genre that was already renowned on the 18th century in England: the novel. Breaking with the predominant aesthetical notions of the romanesque genre of his time, Sterne shows in his work a shattered narrative, with incomplete, out of order, chapters, endless digressions and a narrator whose trustworthiness is constantly put in question. Starting from the complexity brought by Sterne?s aesthetical innovations, we will investigate various ways by which the author breaks the narrative in his novel. Those breaks have as main goal to provoke in his readers a constant sensation of strangeness and frustration, so that in order to understand Tristram Shandy it is necessary that the reader forgoes a passive reading and starts to work alongside with the author himself, Tristram, so that they may understand the intentions behind Sterne?s shattered and chaotic narrative, which seeks to provoke laughter and reflection, plus revealing a satirical and critic view of the English puritan society of the 18th century. For the analysis of this novel, we will investigate the aesthetical techniques and narratives used by Sterne that seek to cause strangeness and alter the reader?s perception, like the fragmentation of the novel, the changes in the rhythm of the narrative and the process of parody. Furthermore, we will analyse how the laughter is performed through the carnivalization and the erotization, and finally we will discuss a little about the graphical techniques are used by the author to reclaim his authorial property in his work. As our theoretical basis, we will use the studies by Chklovsky (1978), Lotman (1978), Bakhtin (1993), Genette (1995), Reis and Lopes (2000), Arag?o (1980), among others. We conclude that the ruptures of the narrative on Sterne?s work aim to create a work able to give to its readers a unique reading experience, revealing a work of powerful criticism and social satire behind its shattered narrative, as well as an extremely critic and innovating sense of humour.

Cette thèse veut explorer l’idée de l’existence d’un roman de la non-linéarité, à travers un inventaire de la critique et l’analyse comparée de quatre ouvrages considérés comme appartenant à cette tradition (The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, de Laurence Sterne ; Pale fire, de Vladimir Nabokov ; La vie mode d’emploi, de Georges Perec ; House of leaves, de Mark Z. Danielewski).Dans le premier chapitre, est postulée la thèse de deux traditions dans l’histoire du roman : la tradition du roman réaliste, et une tradition caractérisée par l’utilisation de formes non linéaires. L’analyse des études sur la tradition réflexive du roman, sur la théorie du chaos appliquée à la littérature, sur les marges textuelles, sur la lecture et sur l’intertextualité seront pris en compte pour soutenir cette thèse.Sur la base de ces questionnements, le deuxième chapitre esquisse une définition du roman de la nonlinéarité, qui comprend un répertoire des procédés et des thèmes communs à cette tradition, ainsi qu’une réflexion sur ses approches du monde et de l’identité humaine.Le troisième chapitre laisse la place à l’analyse des textes du corpus. Les quatre romans sont analysés chacun pour ses spécificités, et aussi dans la perspective de vérifier le postulat d’une tradition d’un roman de la non-linéarité. En s’appuyant sur de nombreux exemples extraits des romans pris en considération, l’analyse s’articule en huit sections : le problème du commencement ; l’intertextualité ; la complexité du récit de vie ; les questions de l’interruption, de la procrastination et de l’absence ; les approches dutemps ; les approches du langage ; le thème du jeu ; l’impossibilité de la fin. / This thesis aims to explore the idea of the existence of a novel of nonlinearity, through an inspection of the criticism and the comparative analysis of four works considered as belonging to this tradition (The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne; Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov; Life, a User’s Manual (La vie mode d’emploi), by Georges Perec; and House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski).The first chapter postulates the thesis of two traditions in the history of the novel: the tradition of the realist novel, and a tradition distinguished by the use of nonlinear forms. In order to support this thesis, I’ll take into account studies about the reflexive tradition of the novel, about chaos theory as applied to literature, about the margins of the text, about the reading experience, and about intertextuality.On the basis of this examination, the second chapter outlines a definition of the novel of nonlinearity, which includes a repertoire of the literary devices and themes common to this tradition, and a reflection about its perspectives upon the world and human identity.The third chapter is dedicated to the analyses of the texts included in the corpus. The four novels are analyzed for their distinctive features, and also in the aim of verifying the premise of the existence of a novel of nonlinearity. Drawing on numerous examples selected from the novels, these analyses are structured in eight sections: the problem of beginning; intertextuality; the complexity of life narratives; the issues of interruption, procrastination and absence; the approaches to time; the approaches to language; the theme of the game; and the impossibility of an ending.