Author · Ireland – United Kingdom · 1713–1768
Laurence Sterne
Playful structure and bold digression that invented modern meta fiction.
Laurence Sterne was an Anglo-Irish novelist and an Anglican cleric.
He wrote many sermons, memoirs and some novels like The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy .
Play and invention on the page in 2026
Laurence Sterne turns delay into delight. Margins jokes and sudden tenderness remake what a novel can do. The freedom feels current not antique. Read him to refresh your sense of form to enjoy mischief and to see how wit can carry real feeling.
