Many readers find Tristram Shandy disorganized, even chaotic. E.M. Forster expressed their perspective when he said, "Obviously a god is hidden in Tristram Shandy, and his name is Muddle." Certainly, the digressions, the apologies, the delays, the jokes, and even the narrator's statements that he doesn't know what he will write next because he doesn't know what idea may run away with him–all these things support their view, as does the narrator's statement that he never revises. Furthermore, Tristram announces his intention "to go on leisurely, writing and publishing two volumes of my life every year... as long as I live" (I, xiv, 33). However, to what extent are Sterne and Tristram to be equated? Is it relevant that statements like this appear in Sterne's correspondence: "I shall write as long as I live, ‘tis, in fact, my hobby horse"? If this was indeed Sterne's intention, how much planning could go into a novel which might end tomorrow or in twenty years?

There are, however, counter arguments to this view. Does a novel have to be tightly organized? Isn't Sterne's rambling part of his purpose in writing Tristram Shandy and a delight in itself? For Tristram–and presumably Sterne, "Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine;–they are the life, the soul of reading;–take them out of this book for instance,–you might as well take the book along with them" (I, xxii, 58). Is his digressiveness in fact an organizational technique? Tristram (and Sterne?) claimed, "my work is digressive, and it is progressive too,–and at the same time" (I, xxii, 58).

Not all readers concede that the novel lacks organization. They have found unity in Sterne's humor, in his characters, in the themes, in his philosophy, in his rhetoric, and in the narrator. Some have seen the novel as a monologue, in which case the rambling is an expression of the narrator's personality. Others see it as a dialog between the narrator and the reader, with the digressions of conversation. James Aiken argues, "The book was planned and written, for the most part, slowly and with care." To support his view, he cites the chronological consistency of the time scheme, which is complete and consistent, with one or two trivial lapses. The major actions–Tristram's conception, birth, and baptism and Uncle Toby's hobby horse and courtship–are arranged chronologically. Moreover the narrator refers to events, conversations, and beliefs which are developed and explained in later books; this technique required at least some planning on Sterne's part. Sterne wrote his publisher, "The Plan, as you will perceive, is a most extensive one–taking in, not only, the Weak part of the Sciences, in w^ch the true point of Ridicule lies–but every Thing else, which I find Laugh-at-able in my way–." Is this a sufficient organizational principle?

Revised: October 13, 2004