The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman · Chapter
Chapter XLII explained
The narrator reflects on his father's obsession with Hafen Slawkenbergius's book on noses, which Walter Shandy regards as a treasure of inexhaustible knowledge capable of restoring all lost arts and sciences.
What happens
The narrator reflects on his father's obsession with Hafen Slawkenbergius's book on noses, which Walter Shandy regards as a treasure of inexhaustible knowledge capable of restoring all lost arts and sciences. The narrator, while less of a bigot than his father, praises Slawkenbergius's tales as the most amusing part of the work, though he notes that philosophy is not built upon tales. He then proposes to tell the ninth tale of the tenth decad.
Themes in this chapter
Obsession and Hobbyhorses
Walter Shandy's near-worship of Slawkenbergius's book exemplifies his hobbyhorse, treating it as a universal repository of knowledge.
Knowledge and Philosophy
The narrator contrasts philosophical knowledge with tales, noting that philosophy is not built upon tales, yet Slawkenbergius's work is valued for its illustrative power.
Characters to notice
- Walter Shandy
Described as a bigot to Slawkenbergius, he treats the book as a rich treasure of inexhaustible knowledge and believes it could set the world a-going again.
- Tristram Shandy
The narrator, who distinguishes his own opinion from his father's, finding Slawkenbergius's tales amusing rather than purely speculative.
- Hafen Slawkenbergius
Author of the book on noses; his work is described as a folio containing ten decads of tales, which the narrator considers playful and sportive.
Key passages
“if all the arts and sciences in the world, with the books which treated of them, were lost—should the wisdom and policies of governments, he would say, through disuse, ever happen to be forgot, and all that statesmen had wrote or caused to be written, upon the strong or the weak sides of courts and kingdoms, should they be forgot also—and Slawkenbergius only left⸺there would be enough in him in all conscience, he would say, to set the world a-going again.”
Walter Shandy believed that if all human knowledge and political writings were lost, Slawkenbergius's book alone would suffice to restart civilization.
Highlights Walter's exaggerated reverence for Slawkenbergius as a comprehensive source of wisdom.
“Philosophy is not built upon tales; and therefore 'twas certainly wrong in Slawkenbergius to send them into the world by that name!”
The narrator criticizes Slawkenbergius for calling his stories 'tales,' since philosophy should not be founded on fictional narratives.
Reflects the narrator's playful critique of the genre and the tension between entertainment and scholarly seriousness.