RECONSIDERING A STERNEAN ATTRIBUTION: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY'S 'STERNE VOLUME'

摘要

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY HOUSES an extensive collection of material by and relating to Laurence Sterne (1713-1768). The Oates Collection, mainly of Sterne's publications and the extensive 'Sterneana' it inspired, constitutes a significant part of these holdings; but the Library also owns items possessing a more tangential link with the author, and in particular with his Irish roots. Born in Ireland in 1713, Sterne moved to England as a child, but scholars have entertained a longstanding interest in the extent to which he maintained connections with his Irish heritage. One item held by CUL has played a questionable role within this history. Hib.3.730.1 has come to be called 'the Sterne volume' among respected Sternean scholars, old and new; and yet both the origins of this particular label and the conclusions it has led some to make about Sterne's connection with the volume and its contents deserve a second look.