SOURCE: "Sterne: Military Veterans and 'Humours,"' in his The Grotesque Depiction of War and the Military in Eighteenth-Century English Fiction, University of Delaware Press, 1990, pp. 144-67.

In the following essay, McNeil asserts that Sterne's major works reveal his affection for war veterans even while Tristram Shandy in particular demonstrates that Sterne is well aware that any enjoyment of the trappings of war demonstrates the violent, irrational side of human nature.

Gi; the Charm of the Military Veteran =~ Sthe Charm of the Military Veteran

Laurence Sterne was charmed by the military character. This charm obviously had its roots in family history; Steme's father served as an ensign in Chudleigh's Foot Regiment and saw action in the Spanish Succession War after which he was posted to Jamaica.¹ Although Sterne went to live with relatives in York who raised him, he never lost the soft heart that he had for...