Volume 1 Summary

The volume begins with the conception of Tristram Shandy. His mother and father are partaking in sexual intercourse when his mother asks if there is a problem with the cuckoo clock. From here, Tristram criticizes his mother's ill-timed question and wonders the effect it had on his father's performance. Tristram credits his Uncle Toby for the anecdote, whereon Tristram quotes a conversation between Toby and his father that claims Tristram's problems started nine months before he ever came into the world.

The narrator, Tristram Shandy, is prone to moving away from the facts of the subject of which he is writing and stating his own opinions. In the first volume, Tristram talks about how he does not care and how he is going to give his opinions and say what he likes. Often these opinions take the form of anecdotes. The next tale...