It is not easy to comment on how both Miguel de Cervantes and Laurence Sterne contributed to the developement of the modern European novel. Neither is it simple to trace the history od Cervante's influence of Sterne.The endeavour implies comments, reactions, delimitations, and explanations required by the complex intertextual configuration of two famous texts, Don Quixote and Tristram Shandy, wich can in no way be approached with superficil intentions only. Moreover, the large assembly of commentators fascinated by the two novelists makes you feel greatly intimidated when attempting a new critical treatment. However, Oana Ivan is not afraid to present in this bookher own interpretation of the way in witch Laurence Sterne mirorred his literary predecessor, of how he fought with the ambiguities of Cervantes's novel, and of the surprising links wich connected the two novels over years, in spite of the major differences in their narrative design.

Pia Branzeu