Why is Tristram Shandy considered a forerunner of psychological fiction?

Tristram Shandy is considered a forerunner of psychological fiction because it shifts the narrative focus from external events to the internal workings of the human mind and the subjective experience of time.12

Laurence Sterne explicitly incorporated Lockean psychology into his work, exploring how individuals perceive their environment and construct their own identities through the association of ideas. The novel highlights the isolation of the human experience, as the narrator, Tristram, struggles with the limitations of language and doubts his ability to truly know himself or others.13

Key elements that establish its status as a precursor to psychological and stream-of-consciousness fiction include:

• Subjective Time: The novel emphasizes the discrepancy between clock time and the way time is sensed, focusing on how the past impinges upon the present.2
• Narrative Digression: The story abandons chronological order in favor of free associations, reflecting the erratic nature of human thought.12
• Character Interiority: Characters are depicted as mythologizing their own lives, revealing the fictive energies of the imagination.13