100 Best First Lines from Novels

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Not a Fudd-fan either.  No wonder that first line turned me off!

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: robinlandseadel at comcast.net
>Sent: Jul 30, 2008 4:48 PM
>To: P-list <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: 100 Best First Lines from Novels
>
>Fair enough Laura.
>
>I'll confess that my eeeeesthetique leans more towards Bob Clampett 
>& Chuck Jones, Tex Avery—one of those things that I just 
>loooooooove in Pynchon, Vineland in particular, are the cartoons. 
>They may be cardboard-cutout cartoons of characters, but they're 
>every bit as good as anything on the Simpsons. The first image of 
>Ignatius J. Reilly is a malevolent comic masterstroke, much like 
>Bob Clampett's and Chuck Jones' early rendition of Elmer Fudd, 
>with rolls of fat joining neck and skull, clearly a tragicomic clown, 
>with an infants soft skull, an obvious case of craniotabes. 
>
>Genius, really.
> -------------- Original message ----------------------
>From: kelber at mindspring.com
>> To be honest, I found this first sentence so unpleasant that it put me off 
>> (rightly or wrongly) from reading the book.  Maybe a book shouldn't be judged by 
>> its cover, but the first sentence seems fair game -- the author's got complete 
>> control.
>> 
>> Laura
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> >From: robinlandseadel at comcast.net
>> 
>> >
>> >104: A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy 
>> >balloon of a head.
>> >John Kennedy Toole: "A Confedracy of Dunces"
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >http://americanbookreview.org/100BestLines.asp
>> >
>> 
>