Once I read a book, I always associate the first line with the title, for example, if I think of Moby Dick "Call me Ishmael" comes to mind, so I thought that we might have a bit of fun with First lines, the idea is simple, post the book’s opening line/paragraph, and add some background either about the author, the book itself, or even a mini review. So without further ado, here’s my contribution.
Moby Dick (1851) by Herman Melville, Opening paragraph
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me."
Publishing History First British edition (entitled The Whale), expurgated to avoid offending delicate political and moral sensibilities, published in three volumes on October 18, 1851 by Richard Bentley, London. First American edition published November 14, 1851 by Harper & Brothers, New York. As letters to Richard Henry Dana and Richard Bentley attest, Melville was far along on a new book by May 1850. This latest work was apparently another relatively simple adventure narrative in the manner of Typee or Redburn, "a romance of adventure, founded upon certain wild legends of the Southern Sperm Whale Fisheries, and illustrated by the author's own personal experience, of two years & more, as a harpooneer...." That August Evert Duyckinck wrote that the story was "mostly done -- a romantic, fanciful & literal & most enjoyable presentment of the Whale Fishery -- something quite new." Melville had promised Bentley that the book would be ready that autumn, in expectation of which he was sent an advance of 150 pounds. His financial situation was poor and he was desperately in need of a publishing success. Nevertheless, he abandoned the nearly-finished romance to spend an entire year rewriting under a spell of intense intellectual ferment further heightened by the study of Shakespeare and a developing friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne. The resulting work was finally shipped to Bentley on September 10, 1851: although it received many positive reviews, it sold poorly and accelerated the decline of Melville's literary reputation. The Epilogue, explaining how Ishmael survived the destruction of the Pequod, was inadvertently omitted from Bentley's edition, leading many British critics to condemn Melville for leaving no one alive to tell the first-person narrative. Source
"Do all things with love." Og Mandino
Posts: 4747 | Location: The Official "Surf City, USA" | Registered: 10-12-01
Excellent thread, Alice!!! Not only is the idea multi-faceted (biography, book review and first line etc. included), it might also come in handy, I recall those GK questions about identifying the book by its first line . Plus, first lines can be fun and catchy. Incidentally I don't corelate first lines with the titles, rather the themes with the titles, I'd now be doing the former too. ----
"Who is John Galt?" -this is the first line of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. The line is repeated again and again in the book, and it works as a good pique-my-curiosity type of question for me. It has grown to be a popular phrase among the masses. And this is not just a catchy ol' expression, it does have a significance, it builds up the suspense, and when finally I knew who John Galt was I marveled at the suspense.
Following are my views about the author and the book, for a formal account read Ayn's biography in the Biographies forum, found here.
About the author: Ayn Rand ["Ayn" rhymes with "mine"], was born Alice (acc. to some, Alissa) Rosenbaum on February 2, 1905... Aquarius! Is a thinker and novelist hugely popular among the masses, and extremely controversial among the critics. She had been a Hollywood screenwriter earlier, a majority of her plays and scripts were moderately successful. Her first novel, We The Living, did not bring her much acclaim. It was The Fountainhead that banged with a clang. Ayn had always held the view that the book ought to live, and she claims in the introduction to the said novel that:
quote:I knew only that it was a book that ought to live. It did.
But that I knew it over twenty-five years ago -- that I knew it while The Fountainhead was being rejected by twelve publishers, some of whom declared that it was "too intellectual," "too controversial" and would not sell because no audience existed for it -- that was the difficult part of its history; difficult for me to bear. I mention it here for the sake of any other writer of my kind who might have to face the same battle -- as a reminder of the fact that it can be done.
-Ayn Rand, in the introduction to The Fountainhead
In The Fountainhead she portrays what she considers the ideal man, primarily in the person of Howard Rowark. Atlas Shrugged, her next book, started with achieving low to moderate success but rose to be a leading best-seller, enormously popular even today, and reached the status of a modern classic. This novel deals with the projection of the ideal man in relation to the world, the challenges and threats the world poses, and what happens when the competitive, superlative individuals of the world go on a strike.
Rand is an advocate of rational self-interest, and her philosophy (for those that consider it philosophy) is called Objectivism. The philosophy stems from an axiom that "existence exists", and follows the good ol' concept of A=A and A cannot be equal to non-A. Briefly, it advocates objective reality, laissez-faire capitalism, rationality and self-interest similar to Nietzschean individualism. You can read a short summary on it and a discussion on the controversy, in Favourite Philosopher(s) thread.
Randian key characters are her ethics incarnate. The lady sure knows how to express - vehemently, lucidly, impressively, interestingly, persuasively – her morality and logic. She has been criticized to be a poor novelist and mediocre philosopher, a considerable chunk of the intelligentsia refutes her claim to be a "philosopher", and most of her fanfare consists of the idealistic youth. Even so, she has her place among the most influential theorists of the 20th century. Her assets were her portrayal of the abstract in a vividly alive fictitious setting, and in a simple and crisp language that successfully reaches and stirs even the layman.
Regarding her personal life: Rand was born in Russia and she witnessed the Russian Revolution. Her abhorrence of communism and estimation of US's being the country most reflecting her morals, led her to migrate to America. She married Frank O'Connor, a man who embodied the ideals she revered. She is said to have had an extra-marital affair with Nathaniel Branden, with the full knowledge of their spouses - they justified it as a rational love affair based on the Objectivist philosophy.
Among the N no. of controversies bouncing around Rand are her dubious stand as an approved philosopher and a critic-acclaimed writer, speculation as to her having some slight psychological disorders like narcissism and cynicism etc., as well as disapproval from several theists, socialists, believers in charity, feminists [the sexual encounter between Dominique and Howard, two of the key characters of The Fountainhead, is rape, which Rand demonstrably approves of in case of consenting lovers… you'd have to read the book to get it I suppose], advocates of altruism etc.
About the book: Atlas Shrugged focuses on what happens when the ones that "run the motor of the world" go on strike, goaded by the socialistic, indifferent, contradictory, hollow ideals (or their absence) of the society. How these people at strik manage perfectly in their own utopia, being self-reliant and dexterous, while the "parasites" of the world face near-devastation. I am not going into details b/c the book has breath-taking suspense at several points and I would not want to destroy it, besides I have spent too much time on writing this and I don't want to bore you, and tomorrow is another day and another book and another post here .
I definitely recommend Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, the two books by her that I have read. They are fairly long, but worth it - Rand is one writer that doesn't save the spice for just the end and the beginning, you'd find every page a gift. I SO admire that trist. Here's someone that has her heart in writing. I doubt whether, having once read these books, you would want to miss out on others by her . Whether you agree, partially agree, or disagree to her ethics – and whether you consider her a good philosopher and writer or not – you would enjoy her writing… if only because it is a true rapture and real challenge to witness a spectacular ideal and a thinking mind.
---- "The statue of a naked woman. (…)you understand what the figure must be. The human spirit. The heroic in man. The aspiration and the fulfillment, both. Uplifted in its quest – and uplifting by its own essence. Seeking God – and finding itself. Showing that there is no higher reach beyond its own form. …" ~ Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
[This message was edited by LetswriteNshare on 10-19-04 at 02:07 PM.]
Posts: 4372 | Location: Back At Quoteland :) | Registered: 08-18-02
This is so unfair! I was gonna post that LWAS! I'll be back then. ---
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday at twelve o' clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.
I have a habit of remembering the first lines too, Alice! Copperfield's musing in the opening paragraph of his book was not lost in the rest of the chapters. He acquires the characteristics of a survivor by the end of the book, and becomes a hero in his own right.
I was introduced to the Classics by David Copperfield and it remains my favorite, in its genre. I love books/stories that start from the beginning and end at the end (literally), and this one especially, is so satisfying in that it has all the makings of a great story (adventure, romance, aspirations) and still allows one to believe it could be autobiographical. Because it is! Charles Dickens is David Copperfield in the book; notice the swapped first letters of their names.
Beginning in 1854 up through to his death in 1870, Charles Dickens abridged and adapted many of his more popular works and performed them as staged readings. This version, each page illustrated with lovely watercolor paintings, is a beautiful example of one of these adaptations. Because it is quite seriously abridged, the story concentrates primarily on the extended family of Mr. Peggotty: his orphaned nephew, Ham; his adopted niece, Little Emily; and Mrs. Gummidge, self-described as "a lone lorn creetur and everythink went contrairy with her." When Little Emily runs away with Copperfield's former schoolmate, leaving Mr. Peggotty completely brokenhearted, the whole family is thrown into turmoil. But Dickens weaves some comic relief throughout the story with the introduction of Mr. and Mrs. Micawber, and David's love for his pretty, silly "child-wife," Dora. Dark nights, mysterious locations, and the final destructive storm provide classic Dickensian drama. Although this is not David Copperfield in its entirety, it is a great introduction to the world and the language of Charles Dickens.
--------Sanya-------- Stella Splendens December 22, 1985-March 27, 2003 Rest In Peace ..lost time is gone forever
[This message was edited by $anya on 10-19-04 at 01:40 PM.]
[This message was edited by $anya on 10-19-04 at 01:44 PM.]
Posts: 2558 | Location: Middle of Nowhere | Registered: 04-12-02
Its time, for me to take my customary snooze, that lasts for ten hours. I am sure to drop by again, but for now for literary interest's sake... have you guys seen this FavQ topic of long time back ----> Good Beginnings
I think many would find it interesting to read and to post.
When I wrote the following pages, or rather bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of the Walden pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. -- First Lines of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau ((1817-1862), Modern Library paperback Edition (2000)
...btw, thanks a ton guys! its awfully nice to see the Lit forum buzzing again.
-
much love, light and laughter, ananya.
*~Come play with my children feel the peace and Scatter some joy.~* ~*Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make your's burn any brighter.*~ *** Satyameva Jayate aamuche bridvaakya aahe. ***
Posts: 5728 | Location: India | Registered: 07-03-01
Ananya’s Favorite Quotations Good Beginnings.... thread is is excellent, her mention of it and the link, reminded me thata while back when I started the Featured Author series, I suggested to link FQ, LT and BF, this is the way I introduced the idea/thread :
quote:1-2-04 - This new Favorite Quotations thread will feature a specific author each month, and will allow you to post this author's quotations, poems, book excerpts, letters, and speeches. The thread will be linked to the Literary Forum, where the works can be discussed, or assignments and challenges set up. The featured author's biography will be posted in the Biography Forum, and linked to both Fav. Quotations and Literary Forums. The thread will start chronologically from the Medieval period and will work it's way to contemporary and modern writers. A guideline to literary periods has been posted in the Literary Forum. Please note that this thread will strictly adhere to the all Favorite Quotations Forum rules and to Quoteland’s Constitution )
Unfortunately, even though the idea was put forth here in LT, other than a couple of replies to the first thread (about Middle English) there was no response. The series still continues and I still link Bios and FQ, which brings me to the point of this post: the idea of linking the three forums (FQ, Bios, LT) is perfect for “First Lines”, we can post the first lines and our comments, reviews, publishing facts, etc here in LT., then open a thread in FQ (or add to an existing one), post a bio in BF (or add to one) and link all three threads, perfect! Of course this is just an idea, posting in FQ or BF is an option, not an obligation, this thread lends itself to it, why not give it a go?
"Do all things with love." Og Mandino
Posts: 4747 | Location: The Official "Surf City, USA" | Registered: 10-12-01
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
Sounds familiar? That's the first line of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Estimated to be one of the most, if not the most, popular fiction novels ever published. Jane's life-like character-sketching, sharp yet subtle wit, riveting plots and readily readable language, make her admired by the masses and scholars alike. Even though personally I find some other authors' writings much (MUCH) more admirable than that of JA, I found P&P entertaining, dramatic and "real".
Jane Austen was born December 16th, 1775 (Sagittarius! ) in Hampshire, England. Liked sports and reading. First work she offered for publication was Northanger Abbey, which didn't get published then rather got published posthumously; first published work: Sense and Sensibility. For a well-covered biography do check out the links below as well as this EXCELLENT one: http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janelife.html#life1a.
Pride and Prejudice: Mrs. Bennet's burning ambition is to marry her four daughters off. Jane, her eldest daughter, falls in love with a rich bachelor, Mr. Bingley. Bingley's friend, Darcy, and Mrs. Benett's second daughter Elizabeth, share a mutual dislike. Elizabeth is very much her own person; Darcy has the easy arrogance of the rich. The story proceeds to form triangles or quadrangles with Mr. Collin being interested in Elizabeth, and Elizabeth taking a fancy to Mr. Wickham. How do things turn out for everyone? Whose first impression about another is wrong? The novel is set in rural England, in the early 19th century. Check this out for a summary of P&P.
---- "The statue of a naked woman. (…)you understand what the figure must be. The human spirit. The heroic in man. The aspiration and the fulfillment, both. Uplifted in its quest – and uplifting by its own essence. Seeking God – and finding itself. Showing that there is no higher reach beyond its own form. …" ~ Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
[This message was edited by LetswriteNshare on 10-21-04 at 09:42 AM.]
Posts: 4372 | Location: Back At Quoteland :) | Registered: 08-18-02
The blurb from the back of the book: "The highly orginal satire about Oedipa Mass, a woman who finds herself enmeshed in a worldwide conspiracy, meets some extremely interesting characters, and attains a not-inconsiderable amount of selfknowledge."
"Thomas Pynchon was born in 1937. His books included V., Gravity's Rainbow, Vineland, and Mason & Dixon."
For some reason, the first line stuck out to me.
First sentence:
"One summer afternoon Mrs Oedipa Mass came home from a Tupperware party whose hostess had put perhaps a bit too much kirsch in the fondue to find that she, Oedipa, had been named executor, or she supposed executrix, of the estate, of one Pierce Inverarity, a California real estate mogul who had once lost two million dollars in his spare time but still had assets numerous and tangled enough to make the job of sorting it alll out more than honorary."
Oedipa Mass, much can be taken from her name.... Tupperware party places the setting in the 1960's the grand era and shows Oedipa is at least attempting be a 'normal' 1960's housewife.
Pierce Inverarity is a former lover.
Very little is known about the author. No one knows where is he, it's believed he is still alive though.
Snow White by Donald Barthelme.
The first page:
She is a tall dark beauty containing a great many beatuy spots: one above the breast, one about the belly, one above the knee, one about the ankle, one about the buttock, one on the back of the neck. All of these are on the left side, more or less in a row, as you go up and down:
●
●
●
●
●
●
The hair is black as ebony, the skin white as snow. (9)
Blurb from back of the book:
"Snow White is Donald Barthelme's raunchy and hilariouse reworking of the classic fairy tale. Eschewing the formalism of earlier genres of fiction, Barthelme experiments with style and voice, taking the well-known characters of childhood and recasting them as sexually active and psychologically complex paradigms of postmodernist satire. His writing posseses a fantastic humor marked by a straightforward presentation of the absurdly grotesque, indicating the irrational nature of our everyday world.'
That does a great job of summing the book up. Bill I believe is "Grumpy" from the fairy tale. "Bill is tired of Snow White now. But he cannot tell her. No, that would not be the way. Bill can't bear to be touched. That is new too. To have anyone touch thim is unbearable. Not just Snow White but also Kevin, Edward, Hurbert, Henry, Clem or Dan" (10)
Snow white lives with 7 men, yet is not satified with them. She yearns for another, Paul. Paul is the prince figure. Jane is the stepmother figure. In case you are slow and don't catch this, your are told this in the 15 questions.
Half way through the book are 15 questions. Some relevent, others appear off the wall... 1. Do you like the sotry so far? Yes ( ) No ( ) then some about the book, do you understand..., is there too much...would you like... 14. Do you stand up when you read? ( ) Lie down? ( ) Sit? ( ) 15. In your opinion, should human beings have more shoulders? ( ) Two sets? ( ) Three? ( ) :rolleyes :
Yes folks, I had to pay for this book. And I had to pay for the class that made me read this book. We'll talk about Snow White on Wed, so I may have more to offer then. Very funny, in a sick kind of way. If you can get past the childhood images and just think of Snow White as a women living with 7 men....
Edit: those dots should be spaced over about 15 spaces, but they didn't post with the spaces.
"I'm telling you. People come and go in this Forest, and they say, 'It's only Eeyore, so it doesn't count.' They walk to and fro saying, 'Ha ha!' But do they know anything about A? They don't. It's just three sticks to them. But to the Educated - mark this, little Piglet- to the Educated, not meaning Poohs and Piglets, it's a great and glorious A."--Eeyore, The House at Pooh Corner
[This message was edited by EeyoreLynn on 10-23-04 at 03:48 PM.]
[This message was edited by EeyoreLynn on 10-24-04 at 01:13 AM.]
Yay for people posting in the Literature forum yet again! I love yous!
***
"IT was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
~ Opening paragraph from "A tale of two cities", Charles Dickens
***
Sometimes you're browsing the first lines of a book and you like it. You keep coming back again and the book takes you in. Maybe it relates to your life or maybe you are just interested in knowing what will be happening next, I don't know. Its just magical when that happens, though. I assure you!
~Dee
life is a waste of time, time is a waste of life so get wasted all the time and have the time of your life -Michelle Mastrolacasa
Posts: 3196 | Location: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: 06-26-03
I think the first line of Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities are the most famous. I knew them way before I read the books.
Just as side note: Alice, I've never assocacted the first line of a book with a book, other than the two books above. Rather, I find that my favorite part of the book is when the title of book become clear. Meaning, I find out/figure out why the author choice the title of the book he/she did. Someotimes it's streight forward, as with Snow White other times, it's not.
"I'm telling you. People come and go in this Forest, and they say, 'It's only Eeyore, so it doesn't count.' They walk to and fro saying, 'Ha ha!' But do they know anything about A? They don't. It's just three sticks to them. But to the Educated - mark this, little Piglet- to the Educated, not meaning Poohs and Piglets, it's a great and glorious A."--Eeyore, The House at Pooh Corner
The War of the Worlds by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Book One The Coming of the Martians Chapter One The Eve of the War
"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment."
A bit of trivia: H. G. Wells wrote the novel War of the Worlds in the late 1800's, establishing science fiction as serious literature. Many have called Wells a prophet because he predicted tanks, aerial bombing, nuclear war, gas warfare, laser-like weapons, and industrial robots in an age where cars, televisions, and airplanes didn't even exist. Over time, this novel has been made into movies, television shows, video games, and a radio show. On October 30, 1938, an actor named Orson Welles directed and starred in a radio version of the book for a Halloween "treat" that turned out to be more of a "trick". In the late 30's, before television, families gathered around the radio every night after dinner for entertainment. On this evening, thousands tuned into CBS's Mercury Theater only to find that a horrifying even was taking place. Martians had landed and were taking over the country!! Panic ensued, resulting in lawsuits against Welles and CBS totalling millions and creating the most notorious broadcast in history. Orson Wells Broadcast Text
i believe that harmonies are colours every time i paint it sharpens my harmony. yesterday i tried to paint you, but the colours weren’t beautiful enough. ~Beyonce Knowles.
When I opened this thread (10/9/04) I had no idea there was one, let alone two, similar threads in, of all places, Favorite Quotations! Ananya posted a link to her Good Beginnings thread, and today while manually (search engine not working) searching FQ for a specific thread, way back in page 74 I found a thread Fair_Gwen opened in September 1999, here's the link, it has some great first lines: The First Line...
And another first line from one of my favorite books Wuthering Heights (1847) - Emily Jane Bronte
I have just returned from a visit to my landlord--the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's heaven: and Mr Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still farther in his waistcoat, as I announced my name. "Mr Heathcliff!" I said.
Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked. ~Lord Chesterfield~ "Do all things with love."Og Mandino
Posts: 4747 | Location: The Official "Surf City, USA" | Registered: 10-12-01
When I read the following first line, I thought of this thread:
"The creator sat upon the thorne, thinking." Letters from the Earth, Mark Twain
"I'm telling you. People come and go in this Forest, and they say, 'It's only Eeyore, so it doesn't count.' They walk to and fro saying, 'Ha ha!' But do they know anything about A? They don't. It's just three sticks to them. But to the Educated - mark this, little Piglet- to the Educated, not meaning Poohs and Piglets, it's a great and glorious A."--Eeyore, The House at Pooh Corner
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Manions, though no quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.
- George Orwell, 1984
Hm, about the most famous first lines being from Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities - I'd have to disagree on Melville, although "It was the best of times..." is extremely well known. I think the openings from, say, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or Peter Pan or Anna Karenina are more well known than Moby Dick's, though.
"Why was I born with such contemporaries?" - Oscar Wilde
I remember very distinctly in a writing class, discussing bad first lines, and this one came up. I've always thought it was a catching first line, especially for this type of book.
'Wisdom comes to all of us. Someday it might even be your turn.' -Polgara the Sorceress "Life is pain. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just selling you something." Dread Pirate Roberts "People are stupid" Wizard's First Rule
Posts: 460 | Location: Huber Heights, Ohio | Registered: 05-16-02
"Francis Marion Tarwater's uncle had been dead for only half a day when the boy got too drunk to finish digging his grave and a Negro named Buford Munson, who had come to get a jug filled, had to finish it and drag the body from the breakfast table where it was still sitting and bury it in a decent and Christian way, with the sign of its Saviour at the head of the grave and enough dirt on top to keep the dogs from digging it up." ~ first sentence of Flannery O'Connor's "The Violent Bear It Away"
Southern gothic novel by Flannery O'connor, published in 1960. It is the story of a young man's struggle to live with the burden of being a prophet and is representative of the author's fierce, powerful, and original vision of Christianity. Young Francis Marion Tarwater has been reared by his fanatical, tyrannical grand-uncle Mason to be a prophet; when Mason dies, however, Francis rejects his mission and consequently suffers tortures of doubt and indecision. Although for a time he weighs the value of humanistic rationalism (as exemplified by his uncle George Rayber), Tarwater unexpectedly experiences a vision and comes to accept his calling. ~ The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature Source: Amazon.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Violent_Bear_It_Away
"Do all things with love."
.
Is a thinker and novelist hugely popular among the masses, and extremely controversial among the critics. She had been a Hollywood screenwriter earlier, a majority of her plays and scripts were moderately successful. Her first novel, We The Living, did not bring her much acclaim. It was The Fountainhead that banged with a clang. Ayn had always held the view that the book ought to live, and she claims in the introduction to the said novel that:
. Whether you agree, partially agree, or disagree to her ethics – and whether you consider her a good philosopher and writer or not – you would enjoy her writing… if only because it is a true rapture and real challenge to witness a spectacular ideal and a thinking mind.
: 
