ADAPTING TRISTRAM SHANDY by Adria Young Submitted in ...

adaptation is in the “mixture of repetition and difference” (114), both of which derive
from an interpreted understanding of the text. And the critical history surrounding
Tristram Shandy is essentially its various textual interpretations, which also appear within
the novel. So, rather than present an illustrated version of the novel that attempts to
modernize the characters, cohere all of the fragmented narratives, or order and illustrate
scenes of the novel in an act of replication, Rowson interprets the critical history
surrounding the text.
The adaptation incorporates the critical and metacritical elements of Shandyism.
Even when Rowson illustrates particular segments, there are still visual interruptions in
the frame. Richard Macksey observes that “by recognizing the complex conventions of
‘the book,’” that Sterne presents in Tristram Shandy, “we are thus invited to understand
how we are unwittingly manipulated” (xxi) by the contexts. Rowson achieves this same
manipulation within the comic book format. A large part of Tristram Shandy’s context is
its critical reputation, either as an inappropriate text, anomalous text, modernist text, post-
modernist text, the “freest” text (New 1), even “the dregs of nonsense,” as Horace
Walpole called it (Howes 55). Although Rowson jokes about the “pre-post-post-pre-
modern” (Rowson 69) contexts that surround Tristram Shandy, like Sterne, he interprets
and incorporates these critical and contextual elements.
Rowson interprets and incorporates the intertexts and contexts of Sterne’s
Tristram Shandy on the visual and iconic levels. He also includes his own reflections of
the text that act as what we might call metacriticism. 57 The “splash page,” or opening
panel of the comic (which follows Rowson’s personalized mimicry of Sterne’s original
dedication) is used to “establish context [and] mood” (Duncan 319) for the whole comic
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