University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Master's Theses Student Research 1998 "A tolerable straight line" : non-linear narrative in Tristram Shandy Daniel L. Hocutt University of Richmond,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Hocutt, Daniel L., ""A tolerable straight line" : non-linear narrative in Tristram Shandy" (1998). Master's Theses. 1158. https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses/1158 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. "A TOLERABLE STRAIGHT LINE": NON-LINEAR NARRATIVE IN TRISTRAM SHANDY by DANIEL LAMAR HOCUTT Master of Arts in English University of Richmond 1998 Raymond F. Hilliard, Ph.D., Thesis Director The non-linear narrative of Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy demands attentive readers. Written under the influence of John Locke's Essav Concerning Human Understanding, the novel satirizes Lockean "associationism" and illustrates language's inability to express ideas accurately. In the novel, \Vords seldom convey characters' intended meanings, yet Tristram uses language effectively to narrate "sci f' to his readers. Rather than having his mind's workings conforn1 to the linear nature of traditional discourse, Tristram communicates associatively to intelligent, involved readers without imposing linearity. In this study I examine scholars' work to detennine Tristram' s position on Locke's ideas and use Seymour Chatman's narrative model to study the emerging narrative self by applying his concepts of FABULA (story) and SJUZET (discourse).