The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman / Laurence Sterne ; read by Anton Lesser.—Franklin : Naxos Audio Books 200915 sound discs (19 hr., 2 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. + 32 p. booklet ; ill.
ISBN: 9789626349670
1. Autobiography--Authorship--Fiction. 2. English wit and humor. 3. Experimental fiction. 4. Parent and child--Fiction. 5. Stream of consciousness fiction.
823.6
This is a very silly book. It’s strewn full of humor from wordplay, typographical shenanigans, and mock scholarship to slapstick and bawdy ****** innuendo. There are a few random bits of Tristram’s life and opinions scattered randomly in the book—and it is a very random book—although Tristram himself is a very minor character being at the same time an omnipresent and garrulous narrator. He provides mountains of opinion from his father, Walter whose opinions are strong, scholarly, forcefully put, and occasionally contradictory, and from his humble and effacing Uncle Toby (especially when he gets on his HOBBY-HORSE, military fortifications!) and from their neighbors Dr. Slop and The Reverend Mr. Yorick, who stop by to offer their varied learned scientific and theological advises. There is also a chapter on mustaches, a chapter on noses—quite a lot about noses—poor Tristram doesn’t have much of one due to Dr. Slop’s sloppy use of the forceps at birth—and a chapter on chapters.
Lesser's vocal characterizations are excellent. The reader, director, and producers are also to be congratulated on their skillful and ability to turn *********, omissions, and squiggly lines and other typographical jokes into a properly silly aural experience.
