Irony in 18th century British Literature

Philosophers as early as Plato have made distinctions between the mind and body, or reason and material perception, resulting in a dualism of being that has seeped into all aspects of Western Civilization. The cycle of perception and judgment of exterior forms has caused an anxiety prevalent in society that has been fought by intellectual and revolutionary countercultures. Tristram Shandy is arguably written in the spirit of these countercultures that seek to break apart the tradition of suppressing the "animal" physicality of humanity. Using comedy as the weapon that disarms the reader, Sterne tells the story of characters struggling with communication and self-perception amidst the chronic theme of the organic versus the mechanical. Three primary aspects in which Sterne addresses the mind-body paradox are ribaldry and the role of sex, the self-perception/ world-perception of the characters, and their tragic attempts to transcend the body.