>>>>>>>
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/article_a125216a-649f-5414-88b5-76a688ea3b6a.html>>>>>>>(it's from 2006 - should any be added to the list?)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Truly bizarre. Item 22 is almost universally hailed as the worst first line in the history of writing. It is the line that gave rise to the contest that challenges entrants to write a first line to a badly written book.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/>>>>>
>>>>>I thought it was the most memorable first lines - in which case that one certainly qualifies. The author is certainly one of the most interesting people on the list.
>>>>
>>>>Nah. Only the first 7 words are truly memorable. Nobody really remembers the rest. And even then, I have to wonder how many people would be aware of that beginning phrase if it weren't for Snoopy.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bulwer-Lytton,_1st_Baron_Lytton>>>
>
>>>Yeah, but don't we have him to thank for Gina Lolabrigida ( if I remember right ) in Last Days of Pompeii ? ( my bad - Solomon and Sheba - but he did write LD of P and it has been made a movie at least 4 times )
>>>
>>>( for lurkers - worth looking at his bio on the attached link. He also wrote some of the great best-sellers of his day, coined the phrases "pursuit of the almighty dollar" and the "pen is mightier than the sword" and wrote
Vril : the Coming Race which was one of the first sci-fi hits. )
>>
>>I don't disagree with any of that. A very remarkable individual (good and bad). But the 'dark and stormy night' line is horrible. It only makes readers read on for the same reason why folks can't look away from a car wreck on the highway.
>
>
>I think he got a bad rap on that one. Paul Clifford came out in 1830 ! Four years earlier Disraeli became a literary rock star with Vivian Grey and that opened "We are not aware that the infancy of Vivian Grey was distinguished by any extraordinary incident".
>
>Washington Irving was a contemporary. He opened The Legend of Sleepy Hollow :
>
>"In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town. "
>
>Compared to that, "it was a dark and stormy night" was a cold opening, meant to grab the reader in a way that was abrupt for the genre.
>
>Different times, different expectations. It was *meant* to be purple prose.
>
>I would doubt those who read it in 1830 found anything campy about it at all. It is just that it is representative of a style that now reads differently. It held up a lot longer than late 20th century television, grunge, or Great Society programs. <g>
>
>I think there should be a Dan Brown, Vince Flynn or Barbara Cartland award. We should pick on the stuff that is campy crap the moment some hack grinds it out. <s>
>
>Compared to other novelists of the period or prior, EBL didn't do badly.
The Guardian newspaper names the purplest sex scenes in novels every year. Pretty hilarious. Here is an example.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/dec/14/awardsandprizes.badsexawardOne writer I like who manages to drop at least one excruciating sex scene into every book is Lee Child. You can tell he is more comfortable with guns and ammo.
