EDWARD BIRD (WOLVERHAMPTON 1772-1819 BRISTOL)

Laurence Sterne's vivid novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, was published in nine volumes between 1759 and 1767. It became a bestseller and the subject of fierce literary argument almost overnight. The novel purports to be a biography of the eponymous character but much of the narrative is taken up by Uncle Toby, a veteran of the wars against Louis XIV, and his obsession with siegecraft. The comic tour de force brought Sterne fortune, and satisfied his desire for celebrity. `I wrote, not to be fed but to be famous,' he once said. This canvas shows the scene in which Tristram announces the early death of his elder brother, Bobby Shandy, at Shandy Hall (volume V).