Some Effective Opening Paragraphs


jriggenbach

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 126
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

How about a great closing line?

"It was easy."

That was a horrible book.

I'm afraid you're right. I haven't read it for over 40 years now.

--Brant

Now that’s just wicked. You know Google won’t help with that one. You could have at least included the part about her being a real blonde.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about a great closing line?

"It was easy."

That was a horrible book.

I'm afraid you're right. I haven't read it for over 40 years now.

--Brant

If you guys are talking about the book I think you're talking about - Mickey Spillane's I, the Jury - the correct closing line is:

"It was easy," I said.

JR

Edited by Jeff Riggenbach
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you guys are talking about the book I think you're talking about - Mickey Spillane's I, the Jury - the correct closing line is:

"It was easy," I said.

JR

Ooh snap! One upmanship at its best. I think it was My Gun is Quick that ends something like: “And he was still screaming when I pulled the trigger.” I can’t remember exactly.

How about this closer:

Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognised who it was.

Queue the Final Jeopardy music. It's pretty obvious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you guys are talking about the book I think you're talking about - Mickey Spillane's I, the Jury - the correct closing line is:

"It was easy," I said.

JR

Ooh snap! One upmanship at its best. I think it was My Gun is Quick that ends something like: “And he was still screaming when I pulled the trigger.” I can’t remember exactly.

How about this closer:

Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognised who it was.

Queue the Final Jeopardy music. It's pretty obvious.

That's from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, of course.

The last line of My Gun Is Quick is, in fact:

He was still screaming when I pulled the trigger.

How about this for the opening passage of a satirical send up of Spillane, written at the height of his popularity:

I'm Mike Hammer. I don't take slop from nobody. Like this guy. He ankles up to me on the street. He opens his big ugly yap, and says, "Pardon me. Have you the correct time?" So I kicked him in the mouth and his teeth dropped all over the sidewalk like marbles. Like I said - I don't take slop from nobody.

JR

Edited by Jeff Riggenbach
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I look back on Spillane with some fondness, but I haven't touched anything by him in about 20 years. I remember Rand also recommended Iam Fleming, and I felt that Spillane was better.

Google is the great equalizer for these guessing games IDing famous and not so famous lines. Nevertheless, here's one more great closer, this really is one of my all time favorites:

“Miss Pearce!” he called out, “kindly send out a revised bill, would you, to our dear Miss Sauskind. The new bill reads ‘To: saving the human race from total extinction-no charge.’”

He put on his hat and left for the day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I look back on Spillane with some fondness, but I haven't touched anything by him in about 20 years. I remember Rand also recommended Iam Fleming, and I felt that Spillane was better.

Google is the great equalizer for these guessing games IDing famous and not so famous lines. Nevertheless, here's one more great closer, this really is one of my all time favorites:

“Miss Pearce!” he called out, “kindly send out a revised bill, would you, to our dear Miss Sauskind. The new bill reads ‘To: saving the human race from total extinction-no charge.’”

He put on his hat and left for the day.

Seems to be among someone else's favorite quotes too: http://coalescent.livejournal.com/284799.html (scroll down to "osusumu")

I look back on Spillane with some fondness, but I haven't touched anything by him in about 20 years. I remember Rand also recommended Iam Fleming, and I felt that Spillane was better.

I prefer classic whodunits, enjoying Dame Agatha's Christie's ability for putting every single piecle of the puzzle into place fore the reader in the end, leaving out not one single detail.

Here's the opening line from one of my favorite Christies: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Chapter One

DR. SHEPARD AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE

Mrs. Ferrars died on the night of the 16th-17th September - Thurdsay. I was sent for at eight o'clock on the morning of Friday the 17th. There was nothing to be done. She had been dead some hours.

***Attention Spoiler***

The ingeniousness of the story lies in the first-person narrator Dr. Shepard (who later "assists" detective Poirot in the investigation of a murder, playing the "Watson" part so to speak) turning out to be the killer.

Opening line of G. Eliot's Middlemarch:

Miss Brooke had the kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.

Such is introduced the heroine of Middlemarch, one my all-time favorite novels.

Dorothea Brooke has often been portayed as an "altruist" because of her concern for social issues. But what she did gave her such a sense of fulfillment. Her standing up for her personal values and finally finding love and happiness despite so many difficulties touched me to the core.

Here's from the introductory chapter presenting another most impressive character portrayed in literature - Jane Eyre:

"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; bur since dinner, (Mrs Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question.

I was glad of it; I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons; dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the consciousness of my physical inferoriority to Eliza, John and Georgiana Reed."

The gloomimess of the scene corresponds to the gloominess in Jane's soul, for (unlike the wealthy and beautiful Dorothea in Middlemarch), she has it very tough right from the start: as an orphan, unwanted and despised by the relatives she has to live with.

But Jane's treasures are her intelligence, a sense of dignity, fairness, as well as courage. It is her independent spirit which Mr. Rochester finds so appealing.

From The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

"You don't know about me, unless you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly."

What a fascinating introduction that is! The story's hero and first-person narrator, a creation of the author, telling the reader that the author might not be totally reliable. :)

Edited by Xray
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found it!

Here is one of the weirdest openings from Brazilian classical literature, from The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis. It's not the opening paragraph, but the dedication. Since the dedication is fictitious, it can be considered the opening.

With fond memories, I dedicate these Posthumous Memoirs to the worm that first gnawed on the cold flesh of my corpse.

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

A passerby on that gray morning in March 1897, crossing, at his own risk and peril, place Maubert, or the Maub, as it was known in criminal circles (formerly a center of university life in the Middle Ages, when students flocked there from the Faculty of Arts in Vicus Stramineus, or rue du Fouarre, and later a place of execution for apostles of free thought such as Étienne Dolet), would have found himself in one of the few spots in Paris spared from Baron Haussmann’s devastations, amid a tangle of malodorous alleys, sliced in two by the course of the Bièvre, which still emerged here, flowing out from the bowels of the metropolis, where it had long been confined, before emptying feverish, gasping and verminous into the nearby Seine.

Umberto Eco, The Prague Cemetery

That's just the first sentence. Holy moly. I got the audiobook this morning, the hardcover ought to be arriving within a day. Been waiting a year for the English version to come out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prague_Cemetery

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies)....

Ba'al Chatzaf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Subject: Violating and Raping the Crow

"A passerby on that gray morning in March 1897, crossing, at his own risk and peril, place Maubert, or the Maub, as it was known in criminal circles (formerly a center of university life in the Middle Ages, when students flocked there from the Faculty of Arts in Vicus Stramineus, or rue du Fouarre, and later a place of execution for apostles of free thought such as Étienne Dolet), would have found himself in one of the few spots in Paris spared from Baron Haussmann’s devastations, amid a tangle of malodorous alleys, sliced in two by the course of the Bièvre, which still emerged here, flowing out from the bowels of the metropolis, where it had long been confined, before emptying feverish, gasping and verminous into the nearby Seine. " -- Umberto Eco

I would classify this as very far from an "effective opening paragraph":

By the time you get to the verb you have lost the thread of the sentence. Between "a passerby" and "would have found himself" there are at least six major modifying phrases. This "train wreck" of a long-winded, pretentious sentence continues with about eight more phrases adding further detail and each going in a different direction. I counted 10 different concrete places Mr. Eco has named (some of them unnecessary and pedantic-seeming synonyms), as well as 3 different institutions or sociological phenomena (criminal circles, university life, the Faculty of Arts). And then, just to multiply the units and overload the crow epistemology a bit more, 5 different persons (or groups).

Not to mention that some of those referents are a bit muddy. You have to stop in mid-sentence to think which of the synonyms "formerly a center of university life" refers to. Plus you're not quite sure if "rue du Fouare" is a third synonym for Place Maubert or Vicus Stramineus, nor are you sure which of the preceding "and later a place of execution" refers to. Mr. Eco further overloads us with crypticisms: "Baron Haussmann’s devastations". Who? What the hell is that highly abstract term 'devastation'? Murder? Robbery? Bad architecture?

This feels like the pretentious writing style of an academic who wants to impress us with how smart he is and show ff all his knowledge on picky, minor points most of which (I suspect) will vanish not to reappear in the novel. But we're not done with this very bad opening sentence:

If you are going to write in an unnecessarily long-winded style and throw a lot of names around, you at least ought to get the details of French capitalization right: It's "Place Maubert", not "place Maubert".

And: "Emptying feverish, gasping and verminous into the nearby Seine" is just an attempt to impress us with a triple barrage of adjectives. None of which are necessary unless this stream plays a role in the story. Finally: "flowing out from the bowels of the metropolis, where it had long been confined"? It's okay to be graphic or disgusting or to try to find a new way to say a river in polluted, but it's hard to see why this one more aside or tangent - in a sentence already groaning from being detail- and tangent-overloaded - is necessary.

(PS, Sometimes an overly long opening sentence is effective, but that is when all the parts have some sort of unified purpose or effect.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Subject: Violating and Raping the Crow

"A passerby on that gray morning in March 1897, crossing, at his own risk and peril, place Maubert, or the Maub, as it was known in criminal circles (formerly a center of university life in the Middle Ages, when students flocked there from the Faculty of Arts in Vicus Stramineus, or rue du Fouarre, and later a place of execution for apostles of free thought such as Étienne Dolet), would have found himself in one of the few spots in Paris spared from Baron Haussmann’s devastations, amid a tangle of malodorous alleys, sliced in two by the course of the Bièvre, which still emerged here, flowing out from the bowels of the metropolis, where it had long been confined, before emptying feverish, gasping and verminous into the nearby Seine. " -- Umberto Eco

I would classify this as very far from an "effective opening paragraph":

By the time you get to the verb you have lost the thread of the sentence. Between "a passerby" and "would have found himself" there are at least six major modifying phrases. This "train wreck" of a long-winded, pretentious sentence continues with about eight more phrases adding further detail and each going in a different direction. I counted 10 different concrete places Mr. Eco has named (some of them unnecessary and pedantic-seeming synonyms), as well as 3 different institutions or sociological phenomena (criminal circles, university life, the Faculty of Arts). And then, just to multiply the units and overload the crow epistemology a bit more, 5 different persons (or groups).

Not to mention that some of those referents are a bit muddy. You have to stop in mid-sentence to think which of the synonyms "formerly a center of university life" refers to. Plus you're not quite sure if "rue du Fouare" is a third synonym for Place Maubert or Vicus Stramineus, nor are you sure which of the preceding "and later a place of execution" refers to. Mr. Eco further overloads us with crypticisms: "Baron Haussmann’s devastations". Who? What the hell is that highly abstract term 'devastation'? Murder? Robbery? Bad architecture?

This feels like the pretentious writing style of an academic who wants to impress us with how smart he is and show ff all his knowledge on picky, minor points most of which (I suspect) will vanish not to reappear in the novel. But we're not done with this very bad opening sentence:

If you are going to write in an unnecessarily long-winded style and throw a lot of names around, you at least ought to get the details of French capitalization right: It's "Place Maubert", not "place Maubert".

And: "Emptying feverish, gasping and verminous into the nearby Seine" is just an attempt to impress us with a triple barrage of adjectives. None of which are necessary unless this stream plays a role in the story. Finally: "flowing out from the bowels of the metropolis, where it had long been confined"? It's okay to be graphic or disgusting or to try to find a new way to say a river in polluted, but it's hard to see why this one more aside or tangent - in a sentence already groaning from being detail- and tangent-overloaded - is necessary.

(PS, Sometimes an overly long opening sentence is effective, but that is when all the parts have some sort of unified purpose or effect.)

Like establishing the narrative voice?

BTW, none of Eco’s books are written for crows. Further, if you don’t know (instantly) who Baron Haussmann was you’re going to have a hard time. Heard of Christopher Wren? Of course Wikipedia can help, but it sounds like you have way too far to go. Have you ever been to Paris? Europe? As for verb placement, I gather you’ve never studied German.

Anyway, I’m busy with the book, so I won’t be posting much for at least a couple days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I very much enjoyed the opening sentence from the new English edition of Il cimitero di Praga. I note that Wikipedia touts its sales "The book is a worldwide bestseller ... that sold millions of copies as of 2010." **Amazon gives a blurb that perhaps explains its appeal:

Nineteenth-century Europe—from Turin to Prague to Paris—abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Conspiracies rule history. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian republicans strangle priests with their own intestines. French criminals plan bombings by day and celebrate Black Masses at night. Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating forgeries, plots, and massacres. From the unification of Italy to the Paris Commune to the Dreyfus Affair to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Europe is in tumult and everyone needs a scapegoat. But what if, behind all of these conspiracies both real and imagined, lay one lone man? What if that evil genius created its most infamous document?

Now, Philip Coates does not find the opening sentence agreeable or effective. Chacun a son goût and all that ...

"A passerby on that gray morning in March 1897, crossing, at his own risk and peril, place Maubert, or the Maub, as it was known in criminal circles (formerly a center of university life in the Middle Ages, when students flocked there from the Faculty of Arts in Vicus Stramineus, or rue du Fouarre, and later a place of execution for apostles of free thought such as Étienne Dolet), would have found himself in one of the few spots in Paris spared from Baron Haussmann’s devastations, amid a tangle of malodorous alleys, sliced in two by the course of the Bièvre, which still emerged here, flowing out from the bowels of the metropolis, where it had long been confined, before emptying feverish, gasping and verminous into the nearby Seine. " -- Umberto Eco

I would classify this as very far from an "effective opening paragraph":

By the time you get to the verb you have lost the thread of the sentence.

-- please speak for yourself, Phil. By the time you got to the verb, you yourself may have been lost. Not me, not Ninth.

To my eyes, and speaking only for myself, the sentence does several things at once. It locates me the reader in place. It locates the reader to time. It gives a brief background to the place Maubert, salting the plain information with tidbits of a darker, violent history over the years:

  • Place Maubert is dangerous in 1897 ("risk and peril")
  • Place Maubert is in the 4th arrondisement.
  • Place Maubert has a slang reference: the Maub.
  • Place Maubert was once a Middle Ages centre of university life.
  • During medieval times, students flocked to the place from nearby faculties.
  • The faculty of Arts, for example, was found in the Roman-named Vicus Stramineus (in French Rue du Fouarre)
  • After the Middle Ages, place Maubert was the site of public executions for apostles of free thought such as Etienne Dolet.
  • Place Maubert is/was one of the few places in Paris that were not devastated by the urban schemes of Baron Hausmann under Napoleon III.

(more information is implied, of course, if one is familiar with the history of Paris)

Between "a passerby" and "would have found himself" there are at least six major modifying phrases.

True enough, if one needs to count such things ...

This "train wreck" of a long-winded, pretentious sentence continues with about eight more phrases adding further detail and each going in a different direction.

I differ in my analysis, as can be seen above and below. I also disagree in part that the sentence is a longwinded pretentious train wreck. Train wreck, no, pretentious, yes, but -- the but to signal that Eco may be riffing on conventions of 19th century literature (consider only Dickens extremely long introductory paragraphs); longwinded ... again, yes, but.

I counted 10 different concrete places Mr. Eco has named (some of them unnecessary and pedantic-seeming synonyms), as well as 3 different institutions or sociological phenomena (criminal circles, university life, the Faculty of Arts).

I counted place Maubert, the Faculty of Arts in Vicus Stramineus, a tangle of malodorous alleys, the course of the Bièvre, and the bowels of the metropolis. Just five for me ...

And then, just to multiply the units and overload the crow epistemology a bit more, 5 different persons (or groups).

1) a passerby crossing the place; 2) Baron Haussman; 3) Etienne Dolet; 4) Faculty of Arts; 5)

criminal circles ...

Not to mention that some of those referents are a bit muddy.

You have to stop in mid-sentence to think which of the synonyms "formerly a center of university life" refers to.

I agree that some of the references might escape first reading, especially if one knows nothing about the history of Paris, or if one is uninterested in the history of Paris. I believe it is indeed a rich (for some, over-rich) confection that pays dividends to the engaged reader (me).

Plus you're not quite sure if "rue du Fouare" is a third synonym for Place Maubert or Vicus Stramineus, nor are you sure which of the preceding "and later a place of execution" refers to.

I am quite sure, me, though you may not be, Phil. It is clear to me that place Maubert was a place of execution.

Rue du Fouarre is French for the latin Vicus Stramineus (vicus stramineus means, roughly, street of straw. In french, fouarre means 'straw' or "paille de toutes sortes de céréale, paille pour empailler les chaises" (chair-stuffing, straw of all kinds of cereal crops).

Mr. Eco further overloads us with crypticisms: "Baron Haussmann’s devastations". Who?

Georges-Eugène Haussmann. His 'devastations' are a result of the rebuilding of Paris in the mid/late 19th century, under Napoleon III. This is a famous reconstruction, or at least famous among those interested in the history of Paris, or more specifically urban planning ... See the Rebuilding of Paris for a brief overview, if interested.

What the hell is that highly abstract term 'devastation'? Murder? Robbery? Bad architecture?

Yes, you kind of have to know what Haussman is (in some circles) famous for.

Phil, if you become familiar with Haussman and his famous projects, you will understand that for many people, the meaning of the word is quite clear.

From a warren of Roman, medieval and other streets and alleys, Paris was transformed into the city we know today -- a city of grand boulevards. You can understand that clearing old warrens and ancient streetscapes required great destruction of the existing urban fabric. Moreover, once you know this, you understand that Eco is pointing to 'the Maub' as a neighbourhood that was not slashed through with boulevards and reconstruction. This ancient sector was unscathed in 1897, with all that this implies.

This feels like the pretentious writing style of an academic who wants to impress us with how smart he is and show ff all his knowledge on picky, minor points most of which (I suspect) will vanish not to reappear in the novel.

I understand your point of view, Philip, but I was ravished by the opening sentence. I hope you understand that some people (me) can take different things from this excerpt, without denigrating your reaction.

But we're not done with this very bad opening sentence:

If you are going to write in an unnecessarily long-winded style and throw a lot of names around, you at least ought to get the details of French capitalization right: It's "Place Maubert", not "place Maubert".

Phil, you are incorrect with regard to French capitalization conventions. See the French-language history of place Maubert and its present day Metro station. In French, there is no convention to capitalize place in this context.

And: "Emptying feverish, gasping and verminous into the nearby Seine" is just an attempt to impress us with a triple barrage of adjectives.

None of which are necessary unless this stream plays a role in the story.

I suspect that the Bièvre will indeed play a part in the story. You may not be aware, Phil, but the Bièvre springs at Versailles and emptied into the Seine in the area of Gare D'Austerlitz. Over the course of the centuries, and especially after the mid-19th century, the Bièvre was relentlessly confined, roofed-over, buried in conduits, re-routed into Paris sewers, and so on.

At the time of the story, however, there was still an flowing route of commerce, disposal, sewage, chemicals, and more ... in the neighbourhood of place Maubert at the time of the story, la Bièvre was very much a vital part of the neighbourhood. Here is a couple of pictures at Bievre.org:

img010.jpg

img002.jpg

img008.jpg

These show this urban stream as it was in late 19th century (in 1912 the urban reaches of the stream were put completely underground, though last year plans to resurrect la Bievre reached fruition).

Finally: "flowing out from the bowels of the metropolis, where it had long been confined"?

Yes, this was the last bit of the flow of the Bievre in central Paris that had not been covered and conduited. The bowels of Paris has a nice, redolent connotation, to my nose!

It's okay to be graphic or disgusting or to try to find a new way to say a river in polluted, but it's hard to see why this one more aside or tangent - in a sentence already groaning from being detail- and tangent-overloaded - is necessary.

I can understand your perspective, Phil. On first glance, the sentence can appear to be a grotesque overreach of authorial intentions. But for me at least, the sentence is alluring, enticing, promising of deep riches, historical detail, of Paris sewers, criminals, danger, catacombs, hidden rivers, intrique, death, conspiracy, etcetera!

I will post this also to my Friends and Foes blog here at OL. Hope you will respond there, Phil!

PS -- Ninth, feel free to correct me where I have gone adrift!

PPS -- Phil, please answer in the comment section of my blog. I will keep the comments free from vulgarity, insults and other sequelae of long-standing disputes.

________________

** [this is from my last mention of The Name of the Rose) I was looking at the world's top best-selling books list at Wikipedia today, and was sobered to realize that Eco hit 50 million with Il Nome della Rosa and Rand did not rank at all. Link

Edited by william.scherk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

PS -- Ninth, feel free to correct me where I have gone adrift!

Wow, that was big. I didn't see you go adrift anywhere. There's a longer excerpt available here:

http://www.amazon.co...20727981&sr=8-1

It's under the Editorial Reviews, I'm not sure if it'll open up properly from the link.

So far the book is terrific. What's surprising me is how funny it is. That probably sounds weird but Simonini is so over-the-top repulsive and neurotic that by the end of chapter 2, when he finally gets back to the Jews, it's like someone getting shot in a Tarantino film.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

> Like establishing the narrative voice? [ND]

If the 'narrative voice' is a that of a pompous, garrulous windbag who strings together all kinds of unrelated trivia, then, yes, I guess Mr. Eco is successful.

> none of Eco’s books are written for crows.

I guess you may not be familiar with Rand's term "the crow epistemology" and how it applies to what human beings can readily retain. Not birds.

> As for verb placement, I gather you’ve never studied German.

Which has exactly nothing to do with the criticisms I made.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

William, this is going to have to be short -- I'd really rather not further beat a single sentence to death.

Re your main points in post #41:

1. Yes I am correct about French capitalization conventions. I speak French, have traveled a number of times to Paris, and am quite familiar with their naming conventions. Just Google "Place Maubert" and you will see running down the page time after time Place Maubert not place Maubert. Another Parisian example is "Place Vendome". The convention is similar in the U.S. For example "Washington Square" not "Washington square". You capitalize both words.

2. You siad the sentence gives "a brief background to the place Maubert, salting the plain information with tidbits of a darker, violent history over the years".

But even if Place Maubert were going to be important in the novel (as well as all the other people and places mentioned), you simply don't try to pack all of the eight different facts you list into one sentence. That was why I referred to the crow epistemology. You could also read George Orwell on absurdly overloaded writing, or William Zinser, or any number of others.

3. "I counted 10 different concrete places Mr. Eco has named". "Just five for me". No, there were ten: You left out the synonyms, the Seine, Paris, etc.: At any rate, you missed my point: you don't need to pack that many concrete places into one sentence. It violates the crow, especially when combined with all the other 'clutter' I mentioned.

Would it kill the author to break it up into another sentence. Or six?

4. some people (me) can take different things from this excerpt...You may not be aware, Phil, but the Bievre springs at Versailles and emptied into the Seine in the area of Gare D'Austerlitz.

Both Victor Hugo (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables) and Charles Dickens (Tale of Two Cities) have written wonderful novels in which the details, the texture, the history and layout of Paris are not only actually relevant but well-laid out. But they take their time to do it and insert it where it is natural.

I can't judge Eco or an entire novel by one run-on sentence. But the fact is that the opening of a novel is one of the most important parts to get right: First impressions matter. And the fact ND selected this train wreck as an 'effective' opener is less than promising.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A passerby on that gray morning in March 1897, crossing, at his own risk and peril, place Maubert, or the Maub, as it was known in criminal circles (formerly a center of university life in the Middle Ages, when students flocked there from the Faculty of Arts in Vicus Stramineus, or rue du Fouarre, and later a place of execution for apostles of free thought such as Étienne Dolet), would have found himself in one of the few spots in Paris spared from Baron Haussmann’s devastations, amid a tangle of malodorous alleys, sliced in two by the course of the Bièvre, which still emerged here, flowing out from the bowels of the metropolis, where it had long been confined, before emptying feverish, gasping and verminous into the nearby Seine.

Umberto Eco, The Prague Cemetery

That's just the first sentence. Holy moly. I got the audiobook this morning, the hardcover ought to be arriving within a day. Been waiting a year for the English version to come out.

http://en.wikipedia....Prague_Cemetery

That's pretty good, but to adequately judge it you'd need to read further. The reason is a book can only take so much over-weight and too much of this stuff is a few more like it between the same two covers.

--Brant

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's surprising me is how funny it is.

To pick up on this point again, it continued to have funny material, but by the end that aspect had receded entirely. Maybe I’ll change my mind after rereading, but it just got grimmer and grimmer. A big difference between this and Eco’s previous novels is that this one is almost entirely narrated by the villain. And what a villain.

The ending was a big surprise. A surprise somewhat like the end of The Crying of Lot 49, where you get to the bottom of the page, flip over and that was it, the end. You say “how can that be the end?”, then, maybe within a minute, it hits you. Ahhh. In the end there’s justice, of a kind.

Here's an interview, I think it's for Swedish TV, conducted in English:

Just look at that library, what a way to live.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Subject: Postmodern or "Deconstructionist" Sensibility??

"It's not indispensable to read the book. It's enough to touch it and by a mysterious fluid you absorb it." - Eco

Wow. Mysterious fluids. What about crystals? LSD? Mystical absorption?

Just what his novel's pompous, pretentious, "mysterious" opening sentence made me suspect I might find the first time this dude opens his mouth on camera: A pompous, pretentious, quasi-"mysterious"...but actually quite foolish and almost postmodern or deconstructionist sounding...statement. Maybe he means it as a joke, maybe he doesn't. But there actually is no point to the humor if it is. If not, it's just plain stupidity.

Note how the bimbo laughs as if she is in on it, as if she gets his "literary' humor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

*deleted*

*deleted*

Subject: Postmodern or "Deconstructionist" Sensibility??

"It's not indispensable to read the book. It's enough to touch it and by a mysterious fluid you absorb it." - Eco

Wow. Just what his novel's pompous, pretentious, "mysterious" opening sentence made me surmise: A pompous, pretentious, quasi- "mysterious" -- but actually quite dumb and almost postmodern sounding -- statement.

Maybe he means it as a joke, maybe he doesn't. But there actually is no point to the humor if it is. If not, it's just plain stupidity.

Note how the bimbo laughs as if she is in on it, as if she gets his "literary' humor.

Wow. I'm just quoting this before you reread it, realize how unbelievably stupid it is, and delete it. I'm curious what you deleted earlier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Yes I am correct about French capitalization conventions. I speak French, have traveled a number of times to Paris, and am quite familiar with their naming conventions. Just Google "Place Maubert" and you will see running down the page time after time Place Maubert not place Maubert. Another Parisian example is "Place Vendome". The convention is similar in the U.S. For example "Washington Square" not "Washington square". You capitalize both words.

http://french.about....italization.htm

Phil, consider this a public test of your integrity. Can you admit that you are wrong on this point? This isn’t a matter of opinion, you don’t like Eco’s writing, that’s your business. But to claim that a man who very recently curated an exhibition at the Louvre, whose novel was proofed by a major publisher, who has set substantial parts of 3 prior novels in Paris, who in his Harvard lecture series demonstrated that Dumas made a mistake in The Three Musketeers concerning how the streets of Paris ran during the 17th century…I could go on and on here, to claim that he’s made an amateurish error concerning capitalization of place names in French; I mean do you ever think to do some reality checking before running your mouth?

Obviously this is all about your grudge against “complete scumbag” “nihilist dipshit” little old me. You must have an awful lot of free time on your hands in order for bothering with me to make it so high on your priority list. Consider revising that list.

http://www.objectivi...ndpost&p=145928

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now