Wherein I emerge, unscathed.

You may or may not have noticed (admit it: You noticed) that I’ve been off the radar yet again, this time for nearly a week (!). I know what you’re thinking, but, no, I was not surfing with Jesse Ventura again, although he did call to ask (I was busy… next time, JV). In fact, you might be surprised to learn that I was not surfing at all! The truth is that I hid myself away in an undisclosed location (undisclosed by ME) so that I could start my World Record attempt at reading AND FINISHING Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (hereafter probably– but not certainly– referred to as Tristram Shandy).

And so, we begin:

We’ll start where Sterne does, with his dedication of the book to William Pitt, who was, at the time, Secretary of State (for the Southern Department). Sterne’s dedication says, more or less, that he just hopes that Pitt thinks the book is funny. I’m reminded of Preston Sturges’s excellent 1941 film, Sullivan’s Travels, in which Joel McCrea (who, by the way, I first encountered in Alfred Hitchcock’s underappreciated Foreign Correspondent– I remember thinking he looked kind of funny for some reason, but I like him as an actor. Saw that the same night I saw I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, and what they say about the ending to that one is true.) plays a movie director who’s known for making “meaningless” but popular comedies. He sets out to make a serious and important film, one which depicts the real human condition, and in order to learn what real hardship is like, McCrea tries to live the life of a hobo and, like most hobos, meets Veronica Lake along the way.

Incidentally, the name of the film that McCrea wants to make? O Brother, Where Art Thou?. I can’t remember what movie is playing in the movie house in the Coens’ film, but I want to pretend that it was Sullivan’s Travels. Can anyone verify this? I could, I have the DVD and it’s easily accessible, but I’m writing this and I’m slightly (read: exceptionally) lazy.

At any rate, it’s in a movie house that McCrea learns the importance of laughter, as a Walt Disney “Pluto” cartoon helps his fellow prisoners (see the movie, jeez) to forget their troubles for a moment and enjoy something. He sees that maybe what he was doing– making people laugh– is actually pretty damned important in this crazy, mixed-up world.

The point is, it looks like Sterne realized this, too. He’s not looking to change the world with his novel, he just hopes it’s funny. At least, that’s what he says.

Next up: The beginning of the book!



Update: Just found out that Preston Sturges was born Edmund Preston Biden. Related to Joe? A quick search with the Google yields little help. Found only one mention of Sturges and the political Bidens (it said he was related), but that was a blog with no sourcing. If someone else wants to find the answer that would be… just fine.