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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Lawrence Sterne Biography STERNE, Laurence (1713–68). A humorist, born at Clonmel in Ireland. Carried about in the regiment in which his father was an officer, he saw many phases of life in Ireland and England. From 10 to 18 he was at school at Halifax in Yorkshire. Later he went to Jesus College, Cambridge, receiving his degree in 1736. He was ordained two years later, probably with a view to the family living of Sutton, near York, which was immediately given him, followed in 1741 by the prebend in York Minster. In 1743 the living of Stillington, carrying another prebendal stall in the cathedral, was given him. He passed 20 years in his Yorkshire home, preaching curious sermons and reading Cervantes, Rabelais, and old romances. He found himself suddenly famous when the first two volumes of his Tristram Shandy appeared at York at the end of 1759, and were announced as published Jan. 1, 1760. He went up to London, became the lion of the moment, and published a collection of sermons. In 1760 he was presented to the living of Coxwold. There he went on with Tristram, publishing the ninth and last volume in 1767. During these years he spent much time in London and traveled on the Continent. The outcome of his tour in the autumn of 1765 was A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768). Less than a month after its publication Sterne died in a London lodging. In 1775 appeared Letters to his Intimate Friends, with the fragment of an autobiography, edited by his daughter; Letters from, Yorick to Eliza (i.e., Mrs. Elizabeth Draper); and Twelve Letters to his Friends, letters iv–ix being of doubtful authenticity. Sterne's work reached a wide popularity at once, and had a following in England, France, and Germany for years. His sentimentality, the deliberate self-conscious indulgence in feelings of pathos, became the fashion of the day. His work is curiously subjective, dependent upon the moods and whims of the moment; and he has a formless, easy-going style, admirably representing his thought. His characters are remarkable for their genuine human quality, remote as they live from the interests of the ordinary people of the time, and belong to the small class of positive creations in literature. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 515. |