About the Author
Prior to embarking on Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) had shown little sign of becoming a major author. After being educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, he entered the church. Hoping to advance in the Church of England, Sterne pursued the modest vocation of a country parson for many years. Ironically, when he abandoned thoughts of promotion and turned to writing fiction, he was rewarded with the living of Coxwold, Yorkshire; he promptly dubbed the parsonage ‘Shandy Hall’ after the fictional setting of his novel. When he died in lodgings in London in 1768, he left readers with the difficulty of deciding whether Tristram Shandy was completed or just terminated by the death of the author.
