An Analysis of the Two Black Pages Following Yorick’s Death Seda Dalgec College

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne is the fictional autobiography of Tristram Shandy in the novel form that tries to find out, defy, and/or experiment with the rules of this new genre it is written in as the text unfolds itself. This attempt reaches beyond the boundaries of the language at some points in the narrative, and the book explores both the possibilities and the impossibilities of the language in its representation of the reality, especially in the two black pages representing the grief and the mourning for Yorick’s tragic death.

There are two black pages in the book positioned after the account of Yorick’s death and the symbolism for his tombstone. These pages are the reaction of our protagonist to the death of a loved one. The passage obviously has no form whatsoever, only condensed ink printed on blank pages with regular margins. The lack of form is also the reason why it is extremely powerful. The black pages stand out with their lavish use of ink, which embraces the material quality and reflects back on itself. While the novel genre, in general, kept bold claims for its own truth and reality with extensive details on different subjects, the documentation for Yorick’s death is...