One of the most extraordinary novels ever written in English, Tristram Shandy defies categorization. A vast, shaggy-dog story, a cock-and-bull tale, a self-conscious and mocking parody of the novel itself, a bawdy romp—it is all these and more. Published between 1759 and 1767, it is ostensibly a fictional autobiography, but it digresses so much that the hero is not even born until the fourth volume. There are blank pages, black pages, missing chapters and many more unconventional devices. Satire, parody, broad humor and an intellectual joie de vivre mark it.