English Authors Series - Lawrence Sterne Revisited

the long version

Kraft combines extensive analysis of Sterne's best-known works with consideration of his earlier satires, sermons, and political writings; hers is the first critical study to consider the whole of Sterne's career, offering a rich account of his life and of the theological and philosophical context of his work. While attentive to the critical appeal of Sterne for a postmodern readership, Kraft focuses on the eighteenth-century context, with special emphasis on Sterne's religious beliefs. Kraft's chapter on Sterne's pre-Tristram Shandy life and a chapter devoted to his sermons provide the background for an examination of the central paradox around which all Christian belief revolves - the union of immortal spirit and mortal flesh. Kraft contends Sterne viewed sexual longing as both an indication of human fallibility and a spiritual gift. To understand how it can be both simultaneously is to learn to dwell in the ambiguity that is the essence of Sterne's vision and a fundamental tenet of his faith.