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Asterisks In 'The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Gatsby'

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Asterisks are a common type of visual elements and occur repeatedly throughout all nine volumes of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Whereas, according to De Voogd, they usually serve as means of referencing with footnotes or marking a hiatus in contemporary texts (cf. 386), they have further purposes in the novel:
In the quote “My sister, I dare say, added [my uncle Toby], does not care to let a man come so near her * * * *” (81; vol. II, ch. VI) from the novel, one can first of all observe that the asterisks denote the omission of a word; in this particular case a noun – it “signalizes meaningful emptiness” (Moss 199). Iser states that in this context such asterisks encourage the addressee to a possible replacement for the respective omission with proper words in order for one to complete the text (cf. Laurence Sterne 62); this search for proper gap filler words involves the addressee’s employment of his/her imagination (cf. Laurence Sterne 83). The …show more content…

An additional proof for this is the fact that Tristram as the implied author provides a sort of introduction to dealing with the asterisks by presenting several exemplary inserts and their results (cf. 81; vol. II, ch. VI). From the context of the previous chapters, the reader is also aware of the fact that Mrs Shandy has just gone into labour and sends her maid Susannah to get the midwife, whereas Walter Shandy wants Dr Slop to deliver the baby and calls for him. From this it arises that the content or topic replaced by asterisks likely is a sexual

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