« TT and OGIC: New around here, stranger? | Main | TT: Night thoughts »
November 3, 2003
OGIC: First lines revealed
In case you were wondering, here are the books that go with the first lines I posted last week:1. In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster. Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
2. An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money. Henry Fielding, Tom Jones
3. At the time when this story begins, the Stanhope press and inking-rollers were not yet in use in small provincial printing-offices. Honoré de Balzac, Lost Illusions
4. On a January evening of the early seventies, Christine Nilsson was singing in Faust at the Academy of Music in New York. Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
5. You are not going to believe me, nobody in their right minds could possibly believe me, but it's true, really it is! Mary Rodgers, Freaky Friday
6. The mental features discoursed of as the analytical, are, in themselves, but little susceptible of analysis. Edgar Allan Poe, The Murders in the Rue Morgue
7. The schoolmaster was leaving the village, and everybody seemed sorry. Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure
8. The book was thick and black and covered with dust. A.S. Byatt, Possession
9. One never knows when the blow may fall. Graham Greene, The Third Man
10. In Africa, you want more, I think. Norman Rush, Mating
There wasn't exactly a flurry of responses, but I'm guessing that some of you simply opted for the instant gratification that Google could provide. That was a wrinkle I hadn't thought of, which isn't embarrassing at all, since forgetting entirely about the existence of the internet is a well-known occupational hazard of, um, blogging...
Posted November 3, 2003 1:12 AM
