43 Facts About Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric.

Laurence Sterne is best known for his comic novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy.

Laurence Sterne attended Jesus College, Cambridge on a sizarship, gaining bachelor's and master's degrees, and was ordained as a priest in 1738.

Laurence Sterne briefly wrote political propaganda for the Whigs, but abandoned politics in 1742.

Laurence Sterne was a literary celebrity for the rest of his life.

Laurence Sterne died in 1768 and was buried in the yard of St George's, Hanover Square.

Laurence Sterne's father, Roger Sterne, was an ensign in a British regiment recently returned from Dunkirk.

Roger's social standing was far lower than that of his recent ancestors: Roger's grandfather Richard Laurence Sterne had been the archbishop of York.

Laurence Sterne was the second of their seven children, one of only three to survive to adulthood.

The first decade of Laurence Sterne's life was impoverished and unsettled.

In 1723, at the age of ten, Laurence Sterne was relocated to his uncle's household in Halifax, on the condition that he would repay his uncle for the cost of his upkeep and education.

Laurence Sterne never saw his father again, as Roger was next ordered to Jamaica where he died of malaria in 1731.

Laurence Sterne returned to Cambridge in the summer of 1740 to be awarded his Master of Arts.

Laurence Sterne's religion is said to have been the "centrist Anglicanism of his time", known as latitudinarianism.

Laurence Sterne lived in Sutton for 20 years, during which time he continued a close friendship that had begun at Cambridge with John Hall-Stevenson, a witty and accomplished bon vivant, owner of Skelton Hall in the Cleveland district of Yorkshire.

Laurence Sterne's uncle was an ardent Whig, and urged Laurence Sterne to begin a career of political journalism.

Laurence Sterne wrote anonymous propaganda in the York Gazetteer from 1741 to 1742.

Laurence Sterne's published attacks on the Tory party earned him career favours from the church, but harsh personal criticism.

Laurence Sterne abruptly abandoned his political writing, leading to a permanent falling-out with his uncle, and stalling his ecclesiastical career.

In 1744, Laurence Sterne purchased several pieces of farmland in Sutton, with the hope that raising crops and dairy cattle would supplement his household's foodstores and finances.

In 1758, Laurence Sterne gave up directly farming his land, and leased the property out.

Laurence Sterne relocated to York to assist Fountayne with bureaucratic tasks, in hopes of further preferment.

In 1759, Laurence Sterne contributed to a pamphlet war related to Fountayne's rivalries within the church.

Laurence Sterne complied, but a handful of copies accidentally survived from other owners.

Laurence Sterne immediately began work on his best-known novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the first volumes of which were published in 1759.

Laurence Sterne was at work on his celebrated comic novel during the year that his mother died, his wife was seriously ill, and his daughter was taken ill with a fever.

Laurence Sterne borrowed money for the printing of his novel, suggesting that he was confident in the prospective commercial success of his work.

Laurence Sterne's bawdiness was criticized in a series of 1760s pamphlets, and he was encouraged to "mend his style" by the Bishop of Gloucester.

In 1766, in the early days of British debates about slavery, the composer and former slave Ignatius Sancho wrote to Laurence Sterne, encouraging him to use his pen to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade.

Laurence Sterne wrote back to say that he had just written a scene sympathizing with the oppression of a black servant, which appeared in the next published volume of Tristram Shandy.

Laurence Sterne's widely publicised response to Sancho's letter became an integral part of 18th-century abolitionist literature.

Laurence Sterne attached himself to a diplomatic party bound for Turin, as England and France were still adversaries in the Seven Years' War.

Laurence Sterne was gratified by his reception in France, where reports of the genius of Tristram Shandy made him a celebrity.

Laurence Sterne stayed in France until 1764, followed by a trip through France and Italy from 1765 to 1766.

Laurence Sterne was captivated by Eliza's charm and vivacity, and they began a mutual flirtation.

Laurence Sterne's admiration turned into an obsession, which he took no trouble to conceal.

In 1768, Laurence Sterne published his Sentimental Journey, which contains some extravagant references to her; and their relationship aroused considerable interest.

Laurence Sterne wrote his Journal to Eliza, part of which he sent to her, and the rest of which came to light when it was presented to the British Museum in 1894.

One was identified to be of a size that matched a bust of Laurence Sterne made by Nollekens.

The works of Laurence Sterne are few in comparison to other eighteenth-century authors of comparable stature.

Laurence Sterne was involved in and wrote about local politics in 1742.

Laurence Sterne influenced European writers as diverse as Denis Diderot and the German Romanticists.

Laurence Sterne's work had noticeable influence over Brazilian author Machado de Assis, who made use of the digressive technique in the novel The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas.