1713-1768. Irish writer, creator of the comic
anti-hero Tristram Shandy. The Life and
Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent 1760-67, an
eccentrically whimsical and bawdy novel,
foreshadowed many of the techniques and
devices of 20th-century novelists, including
James Joyce. His other works include A
Sentimental Journey through France and Italy
1768. Sterne, born in Clonmel, Ireland, took
orders in 1737 and became vicar of
Sutton-in-the-Forest, Yorkshire, in the next
year. In 1741 he married Elizabeth Lumley,
producing an unhappy union largely because of
his infidelity. He had a sentimental love
affair with Eliza Draper, of which the
Letters of Yorick to Eliza 1775 is a record.