{"product_id":"comic-digression-in-tristram-shandy-raffaele-messinese-9798196503801","title":"Comic digression in Tristram Shandy: A short essay","description":"This paper examines the comic function of digression in Laurence Sterne's \u003ci\u003eThe Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman\u003c\/i\u003e, arguing that Sterne elevates digression from a subordinate narrative deviation to the governing principle of the text. By reading representative episodes (e.g., the fly, the chair, the recurrent \"nose,\" and the embedded \"Tale of Slawkenbergius\") through a framework that draws on formalist and dialogic theories (notably Shklovsky's \"game of materials\" and Bakhtinian carnival and Menippean satire), the study shows how digression simultaneously fragments plot and expands thematic range via association, rhythm, etymology, and chance reference. These procedures generate a serio-comic tonal oscillation and produce a grotesque, multi-perspectival narrative \"body\" that parodies the codifying eighteenth-century English novel. Digression is further described as operating defensively (delay) and offensively (expansion), including typographical and enumerative proliferations that spatialize time and disrupt cause-effect syntax. The article concludes that Sterne's comic digression underwrites the novel's open, anti-teleological closure, presenting narrative as potentially infinite and resisting definitive genre categorization.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Raffaele Messinese\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798196503801\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/11\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 36\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.11lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.25w x 0.09d","brand":"Raffaele Messinese","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48874666164479,"sku":"9798196503801","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/comic-digression-in-tristram-shandy-raffaele-messinese-9798196503801","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}