The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman · Chapter
Book III explained
The narrator continues his digressive narrative, reflecting on the nature of writing and the interplay between jest and earnest, as signaled by the epigraph from John of Salisbury.
What happens
The narrator continues his digressive narrative, reflecting on the nature of writing and the interplay between jest and earnest, as signaled by the epigraph from John of Salisbury.
Themes in this chapter
Digression and Narrative Form
The epigraph explicitly states the author's intent to move between jest and earnest, a hallmark of the digressive narrative style.
Key passages
“Multitudinis imperitæ non formido judicia; meis tamen, rogo, parcant opusculis—in quibus fuit propositi semper, a jocis ad seria, a seriis vicissim ad jocos transire.”
I do not fear the judgments of the ignorant multitude; yet I ask them to spare my little works—in which it has always been my purpose to pass from jests to serious matters, and from serious matters back again to jests.
This epigraph sets the tone for the chapter, emphasizing the author's deliberate oscillation between humor and gravity.