Sterne

Give me reasons why Tristram Shandy isn't the best book in English.

Protip: you cant

haven't read it yet, what's the best edition?

>what's the best edition?
Not OP, but I don't know.

I am unfamiliar with this work.

cool thanks. me neither.

well why the hell do you respond then?

Oxford World Classics version is probably good.

But what abou--

He's right.

same. i hope somebody could recommend one

I would recommend the translation by Sterne.

not that user, but I don't know

Too bad Sterne died before he could write more. He was one of the greatest English novelists.

as long as it's well annotated you're fine. most copies will be, but i'd suggest norton critical (always)

maybe it is. i can't get past the digressions.

Maaaaan fuck Tristram Shandy.

confirmed stupid bitches

well that may be, how would i be able to penetrate the difficulties i find in reading tristram shandy? it's as if the digressions aggravate my already tenuous grasp on the arrow of time, it is difficult for me to change gears with such suddenness, or gather the rich allusions made in the work from what i have seen. what do you, genuinely, suggest i should do? is there an acceptable guide or some sort of skeleton key to appreciating this work more than i have been able? do help me, i earnestly prithee.

no help? ah ok.

Sterne incorporated into Tristram Shandy many passages taken almost word for word from Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, Francis Bacon's Of Death, Rabelais and many more, and rearranged them to serve the new meaning intended in Tristram Shandy.[4] Tristram Shandy was highly praised for its originality, and nobody noticed until years after Sterne's death. The first to note them was physician and poet John Ferriar, who did not see them negatively and commented:[4][5]

i aint gonna read a plagiarist of rabelais and burton when i could just read them. rabelais is great.

>using wikipedia

>i aint gonna read a plagiarist of rabelais and burton when i could just read them. rabelais is great.

Not disagreeing with you on that, everyone should read Burton, Rabelais and Bacon; but maybe you could try reading some Pierre Menard to appreciate appropriation as a form of interpretation.

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