(1713-1768) Irish writer. He created the comic antihero Tristram Shandy in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent 1759–67, an eccentrically whimsical and bawdy novel which foreshadowed many of the techniques and devices of 20th-century novelists, including James Joyce. His other works include A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy 1768.