Favourite Opening Lines
This is what you do with a degree in literature. You sit around and muse about what might be the greatest opening line for a novel.
Right at the top would have to be "Call me Ishmael." Just three words, but they say so much. Yeah, it's been quoted and parodied about a bizillion times by just about everybody. In fact, it's probably the most quoted line from the novel that the fewest people have actually read. But maybe there's a reason for that. (Why it's quoted, not why the novel's not read. Moby Dick is not read because it sucks.)
We begin with intrigue. Why isn't this guy going to tell us his real name? Then there's the whole foreign thing--Ishmael. He's not from around the Ozarks. And if you're going to pick an alias, why would you choose one that harkens to the evil Muslims? To a white, god-fearing Christian (are there truly any other kind?), what would be worse? Of course, nothing else in the novel is worth the effort (except maybe for the first mate, who gave us a great chain of coffee houses), but what a great opening line.
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." 1984, of course. (By the way, saying "of course" is another one of those things you can do with a degree in literature.) First of all, you get the juxtapostion of the weather: It's a bright, but cold day. And it's April; spring is here, but yet it's cold. Spring is often seen as a time of rebirth, hope. But then, the clocks are striking 13. In a world where the clocks strike 13, you know things have got to be fucked up.
"It was love at first sight." Aside from Catch-22 being my favourite novel, it's such a great line. If nothing else, it tells you right from the start that this isn't going to be your standard war novel. There is nothing glorious about war in this book. If you ever get a chance, check out the band Yossarian's Lament. I think they're from around the KC area. Good licks.
More later. I'd be interested in knowing your picks.
Right at the top would have to be "Call me Ishmael." Just three words, but they say so much. Yeah, it's been quoted and parodied about a bizillion times by just about everybody. In fact, it's probably the most quoted line from the novel that the fewest people have actually read. But maybe there's a reason for that. (Why it's quoted, not why the novel's not read. Moby Dick is not read because it sucks.)
We begin with intrigue. Why isn't this guy going to tell us his real name? Then there's the whole foreign thing--Ishmael. He's not from around the Ozarks. And if you're going to pick an alias, why would you choose one that harkens to the evil Muslims? To a white, god-fearing Christian (are there truly any other kind?), what would be worse? Of course, nothing else in the novel is worth the effort (except maybe for the first mate, who gave us a great chain of coffee houses), but what a great opening line.
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." 1984, of course. (By the way, saying "of course" is another one of those things you can do with a degree in literature.) First of all, you get the juxtapostion of the weather: It's a bright, but cold day. And it's April; spring is here, but yet it's cold. Spring is often seen as a time of rebirth, hope. But then, the clocks are striking 13. In a world where the clocks strike 13, you know things have got to be fucked up.
"It was love at first sight." Aside from Catch-22 being my favourite novel, it's such a great line. If nothing else, it tells you right from the start that this isn't going to be your standard war novel. There is nothing glorious about war in this book. If you ever get a chance, check out the band Yossarian's Lament. I think they're from around the KC area. Good licks.
More later. I'd be interested in knowing your picks.
posted by The Holy Grail Press at 12:36 PM
1 Comments:
Something happened.
It was a dark and stormy night.
Do you know me?
I never thought it would end up like this.
It really wasn't my fault.
Praise Jesus!
I am so happy.
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