in which volume tristam shandy finally recount his birth
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman As its title suggests, the book is ostensibly Tristram's narration of his life story. But it is one of the central jokes of the novel that he cannot explain anything simply, that he must make explanatory diversions to add context and colour to his tale, to the extent that Tristram's own birth is not even reached until VolumeÂ III.