--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Jason Spock <jedi_spock@> > wrote: > > > > Snoopy typing on his typewriter, "It was a dark and stormy > night."..... is considered, the world's greatest one-line novel. > > Not quite. :-) > > Schultz was just paying homage to one of the most atrocious > first lines of a novel in history: > > "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), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the > scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness." > -- Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830) > > Notice that it's all one sentence. It inspired a contest > that is really a hoot, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. > The objective is to write the "first sentence of the worst > novels never printed." > > From the website: > > An international literary parody contest, the competition honors the > memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George > Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). The goal of the contest is > childishly simple: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening > sentences to imaginary novels. Although best known for "The Last > Days of Pompeii" (1834), which has been made into a movie three > times, originating the expression "the pen is mightier than the > sword," and phrases like "the great unwashed" and "the almighty > dollar," Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with > the immortal words that the "Peanuts" Beagle Snoopy plagiarized for > years, "It was a dark and stormy night." > > Find out more at: > > http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/ > > Some examples from that website, the 2005 winners: > > 2005 Grand Winner: > As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg > carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire, highly functional yet > pleasingly formed, perched prominently on top of the intake > manifold, aching for experienced hands, the small knurled caps of > the oil dampeners begging to be inspected and adjusted as described > in chapter seven of the shop manual. > Dan McKay > Fargo, ND > Big Snip of really funny stuff **************************
Thanks for that - laugh out loud stuff, for sure! JohnY ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
