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| Trastram Shandy in
Hypertext by David R. Hammontree "Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversa-tion : As no one, who knows what he is about in good company, would venture to talk all; -- so no author, who under-stands the just boundaries of decorum and good breeding, would presume to think all : The truest respect which you can pay to the reader's understanding, is to halve this matter amicably, and leave him something to imagine, in his turn, as well as yourself. For my own part, I am eternally pay-ing him compliments of this kind, and do all that lies in my power to keep his imagination as busy as my own." (Book2, Chapter 11)
Topics Hypertextual Qualities of Sterne's Tristram Shandy
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The Hypertext Tristram Shandy "Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman." Project Gutenberg. Ed. John Mark Ockerbloom. 2000. U. of Penn. 9 April 2000 <http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1079>. Here is an early example of Shandy in hypertext format. A massive 756 page undertaking with nothing but a scroll bar as your guide. This is plain txt format word processing at its "finest." Needless to say, it does little to capture the essence of Sterne's tale and the reader is left with only plain text as a guide. An ambitious undertaking - if only to remediate the novel to the CRT. I would go so far to say that this format is more "out of time" then the original print in which the novel was first written. Tristram Shandy on Hypertext. Ed. Keith Earley. 1996. Swarthmore College. 9 April 2000 <http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/~kearley/ .> This was the first hypertext version of Shandy I came across. Unfortunately it only repruposes the first two volumes, leaving the reader incomplete. Still this format is written in HTML and throughout the electronic text are links to other chapters and ideas that Sterne's writing is fit for. The page is also helpful for the reader who may become lost within Sterne's unique narrative. Earley has created sections devoted to themes such as: the Hobby-horse, noses, Lillabullero, and Don Quixote along with brief biographies of Shandy's seven principal characters. I would not look at this page as an electronic cliff-notes version, but as a resource guide to the novel. "Tristram Shandy Online." Laurence Sterne in Cyberspace. Ed. Masaru Uchida. 1998. Gifu University. 9 April 2000 <http://www.gifu-u.ac.jp/~masaru/TS/contents.html .> By far the most impressive version of Shandy on the web today, this page recreates most of the essence of the novel's original print version, complete with page numbers and Stern's "doodles". This site also encompasses all nine volumes of the novel, compared with only two from the Earley site. However, there are few links within the text to link ideas and patterns within the novel as with Earley.
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