Tristram Shandy

Tristram Shandy

by

Laurence Sterne

The stranger with an enormous nose is the protagonist of Slawkenbergius’s tale, which Tristram translates and includes at the beginning of Volume IV. The stranger, who has the largest nose any of the other characters have ever seen, stops in Strasbourg on his way from the “Promontory of Noses” to Crimea. His nose throws the town into a frenzy as the citizens debate whether or not it is real and demand to touch it. The stranger will not allow anyone to touch his nose, and he leaves, promising to return in a month. Along the way, Diego is stopped by Fernandez, the brother of Diego’s lover Julia, who has been looking for Diego. The reader does not learn about Diego’s reunion with Julia nor the revelation of the secret behind his nose, however, as Tristram feels incapable of translating Slawkenbergius’s remaining tales from Latin.
Get the entire Tristram Shandy LitChart as a printable PDF.
Tristram Shandy PDF

The Stranger (Diego) Character Timeline in Tristram Shandy

The timeline below shows where the character The Stranger (Diego) appears in Tristram Shandy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 4: Chapters 1-6
Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling  Theme Icon
Language and Comprehension Theme Icon
Travel, Space, and Time Theme Icon
Sexuality and Propriety Theme Icon
...with more “Latinity” than Slawkenbergius’s philosophy. The tale goes as follows: One day in August, a stranger rides a mule into Strasbourg. At the gate, he tells the sentinel that he is... (full context)
Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling  Theme Icon
Language and Comprehension Theme Icon
Sexuality and Propriety Theme Icon
Science, Technology, and the Enlightenment Theme Icon
Though the stranger has left town, news of his nose has thrown Strasbourg into a frenzy. The stranger... (full context)
Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling  Theme Icon
Language and Comprehension Theme Icon
Travel, Space, and Time Theme Icon
...and returns to the inn instead. There he meets the stranger whom he recognizes as Diego, the man he has been looking for: the traveler, Fernandez, is Julia’s brother and has... (full context)
Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling  Theme Icon
Language and Comprehension Theme Icon
Travel, Space, and Time Theme Icon
Sexuality and Propriety Theme Icon
Fernandez gives Diego Julia’s letter imploring him to return to her and apologizing for sending him away. Diego... (full context)
Book 8: Chapters 1-5
Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling  Theme Icon
Language and Comprehension Theme Icon
Sexuality and Propriety Theme Icon
...atmosphere of southern France and compares the story of Toby’s amours to the romance between Diego and Julia, imploring Eugenius to help keep him focused. (full context)