The stranger with an enormous nose is the protagonist of Slawkenbergius’s tale, which Tristram translates and includes at the beginning of Volume IV. The stranger, who has the largest nose any of the other characters have ever seen, stops in Strasbourg on his way from the “Promontory of Noses” to Crimea. His nose throws the town into a frenzy as the citizens debate whether or not it is real and demand to touch it. The stranger will not allow anyone to touch his nose, and he leaves, promising to return in a month. Along the way, Diego is stopped by Fernandez, the brother of Diego’s lover Julia, who has been looking for Diego. The reader does not learn about Diego’s reunion with Julia nor the revelation of the secret behind his nose, however, as Tristram feels incapable of translating Slawkenbergius’s remaining tales from Latin.
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The Stranger (Diego) Character Timeline in Tristram Shandy
The timeline below shows where the character The Stranger (Diego) appears in Tristram Shandy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 4: Chapters 1-6
...with more “Latinity” than Slawkenbergius’s philosophy. The tale goes as follows: One day in August, a stranger rides a mule into Strasbourg. At the gate, he tells the sentinel that he is...
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Though the stranger has left town, news of his nose has thrown Strasbourg into a frenzy. The stranger...
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...and returns to the inn instead. There he meets the stranger whom he recognizes as Diego, the man he has been looking for: the traveler, Fernandez, is Julia’s brother and has...
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Fernandez gives Diego Julia’s letter imploring him to return to her and apologizing for sending him away. Diego...
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Book 8: Chapters 1-5
...atmosphere of southern France and compares the story of Toby’s amours to the romance between Diego and Julia, imploring Eugenius to help keep him focused.
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