Context 1: Preformation, Nicholas Hartsoecker (1695)
This is a photo of the theory of Homunculus; Sterne refers to this theory when explaining the conception of Tristram. Tristram says his "little gentleman" may have been "miserably spent" during his journey. This theory claims that there are little men or animal spirits in sperm who "ha[ve] all the claims and rights of humanity" (Sterne 6). It is not surprising that Sterne would lead Tristram and Walter to believe in "little gentlemen" in sperm because of the love for intellectual philosophy that Walter and Tristram seem to have. (Walter more than Tristram of course) I believe this is essentially the times explanation of DNA. A tiny person inside a sperm as drawn by Nicholas Hartsoecker in 1695, postulated the existence of animalcules in the semen of humans and other animals.
Context 2: The Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton (1621)
To begin a commentary on The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy one would be remiss to ignore the influence of Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy printed in 1621. This book is believed to evoke Lawrence Sterne’s inclusion of lengthy quotations, sermons and the intertextualities of a myriad of writers according to H.D. Trail. In his path of explaining “melancholy” Burton circulates around the human condition with accounts and ideas of others. The erudited reference book is packed with anecdotes and “borrowed” material which precedes Sterne’s blatantly satiric mimicry of Burton’s Anatomy. Though Sterne was accused of plagiarizing Burton with his sometimes word for word burlesque, Sterne’s acknowledgement of “pouring only out of one vessel to another” (Sterne 275) reveals a comical artistry in his literal thievery.
Context 3: An exact account of the Siege of Namur, by a Gentlemen adding his Majesty during the whole Campagne (1695)
The Siege of Namur was an historical event that is used through out Tristram Shandy to highlight the effect war could have a person and those around him. Uncle Toby and Trim survive this siege but not without physical and possibly mental injury. Sterne’s reasons for using the siege in his novel could have any number of possible meanings. Whether he is commenting on the morality of war and death, or the political reasons for a country to go to war or not to go to war, or if he merely believed this would make the “novel” a better read for people of this time. I think all these answers are correct and can be seen throughout the book. This is an account of the Siege of Namur that took place in 1600s.
Context 4: Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke (1689)
Essay Concerning Human Understanding was written by John Locke in 1689, though it is dated 1690. His work includes four books, each concerned with a different philosophical idea. Sterne, or Tristram as narrator, references Locke’s essay many times, as well as the ideas Locke brought to philosophy. Tristam is very interested in using current (to him) philosophical ideas to describe the events of his work. Tristram uses Locke’s theory of “association of ideas” to explain why he tells his story in a series of digressions and seemingly unrelated scenes. Tristram also uses Locke’s idea of tabula rasa, that humans are shaped by their experiences, to blame the misfortune of his time upon his disastrous conception and birth. Locke is the single most influential philosopher of Tristram Shandy. Still giving credit to Sterne for his creative genius, Locke greatly influences the structure as well as one of the central themes of the work.
“Pray, Sir, in all the reading which you have ever read, did you ever read such a book as Locke’s Essay upon the Human Understanding? ——Don’t answer me rashly, –because many, I know, quote the book, who have not read it,—and many have read it who understand it not (Sterne 70).
Context 5: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare (1703)
William Shakespeare’s role in Lawrence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy lies in the embedded references to his work: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. While characterizing the parson, Sterne’s narrator suggests “this post could be no other than the king’s chief Jester;---…Hamlet’s Yorick, in our Shakespear, many of whose plays , you know, are founded upon authenticated facts, -- was certainly the very man” (Sterne 21). Within this reference, Sterne draws parallels to the use of the parson’s name, the family’s origin and the tragedy of death that befalls us all. Specifically, Sterne creates Yorick not only as a an extension of himself, but as a comedic relief of his expectant mortality (Elizabeth K.Goodhue 2006).
It is unknown exactly where Sterne’s “hobby horse” originated. However, the meaning and use in Tristram Shandy lend to the theory of Shakespearean inspiration (Gary Martin 2015). Both authors utilized the term in the sense of obsessions or whimsical fancies as well as interplay of sexual undertone according to Natália Pikli (2013). Though the “hobby horse” is prevalent in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and other Shakespearean works, it is also implicated in the works of Cervantes, Locke, Fayre, etc. One cannot forgo the implication that we all have a reference to a Hobby-Horse.
Context 6: Don Quixote, Miguel De Cervantes (1605)Don Quixote is a novel by Miguel de Cervantes originally published in 1605. It was known as one of the first successful novels, influencing much of the western world's literature and the concept of "novel." Sterne admired the book, and imprinted the characteristic on Tristram. Sterne borrows the sort of genre-less style used by Cervantes for this novel, with Tristram's goal of sorts in storytelling to write a novel. This shows that there were meta-references all the way back in 1759. Attached is the cover of the edition of Don Quixote that Sterne was familiar with. Sterne compares Yorick's horse to Rosinante, Quixote's horse (Sterne 16), and compares Yorick himself to Quixote, the "Knight of La Mancha" in Volume I Chapter X (19). By the wording I'm not sure if he prefers Yorick to the "greatest hero of antiquity." In Volume III Chapter XIX (151), while speaking of Toby, Tristram declares that Cervantes is a dearer author to him than his "dear Rabelais." In IX:XXIV (521) he refers to Cervantes as his "beloved Cervantes." The characters of Toby and Trim are supposedly based on Don Quixote and his partner Sancho Panza. A similarity is Quixote's desire to recreate chivalry while Toby recreates previous battles, both "hobby-horses" lost to time.
Context 7: An Essay on Midwifry, John Burton, M.D. (1751)
In Tristram Shandy, the male midwife who delivers Tristram, Dr. Slop, is designed after real-life male midwife Dr. John Burton (1710-1771). Dr. Burton’s “An Essay towards a Complete New System of Midwifry” (1751) is referenced a few times throughout Tristram Shandy (Sterne 555). In his essay, Dr. Burton specifically warns against the use of various “Instruments […] very often to the Destruction of the Mother as well as the Child” (x). So the scene in which Dr. Slop, “[i]n bringing him into the world with his vile instruments […] crush’d his nose […] as flat as a pancake to his face” (Sterne 170) is particularly ironic and comical to readers who are familiar with Dr. Burton’s essay.
