Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Subversion of Plots 17
1.1 Young Tristram's Plot 19
1.2 Toby's Plot 28
1.3 Adult Tristram's Plot 32
Chapter 2 Language Questioned 41
2.1 Pictures against Writing 42
2.2 Gestures against Speech 53
2.3 Instable Words 60
Chapter 3 Circular Thematic Structure 67
3.1 Exposition 68
3.2 Development 72
3.3 Recapitulation 89
Chapter 4 Artistry of Digression 94
4.1 The Internal Paradigms 96
4.2 Digression as Rhetoric 102
4.3 The Integration of Digression and Story 108
4.4 The Regulation of Digression 116
Chapter 5 Structural Synchronism 121
5.1 Structural Radiation 122
5.2 Structural Multiplicity 129
5.3 Innovative Spirit 138
Chapter 6 Signification of Carnivalesque Narrative Art 145
6.1 Art as a Reflection of Tristram's Personality 145
6.2 Tristram as an Alter Ego of His Father and Uncle 150
6.3 Victory of Non-linearity 155
6.4 Aesthetic Effects 159
Conclusion 165
Primary References 174
Secondary References 177