Zhizn' i mneniya Tristrama Shendi, dzhentlmena

«Da zdravstvuet radost! Doloy pechal!» Yumor, po mneniyu Lorensa Sterna, yavlyaetsya nachalom vseh nachal, ved on pomogaet cheloveku proyavit sebya kak lichnost i nayti vernuyu tochku zreniya na zhizn. Vsya kniga «Zhizn i mneniya Tristrama SHendi, dzhentlmena» — eto grandioznaya i ironichnaya shutka-istoriya, opisyvayuschaya neskolko let iz zhizni semeystva Shendi. Stern provozglashaet «shendizm» («chudachestva») stilem zhizni i prinimaet ego sam — a takzhe predlagaet chitatelyam — kak volshebnuyu pilyulyu ot zhiznennyh tyagot.