Here's a keeper: Top 10 Most Outrageous Opening Lines in Literature. Granted, their criteria for "outrageous" seems broader than Marlon Brando's waistline (ba-dum-bum!). But how can you resist something like this?
"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like 'I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . . .' And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming, 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'"
Ah, could there be a better expression of drug-induced psychosis than the opening of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"?
I would note, however, that they've left off possibly the most outrageous opening lines in all of history. Here they are:
"The door burst off of its hinges, and through it roared a massive T-Rex genetically engineered to have the brain (and mustache) of Adolf Hitler!"
That comes from my soon-to-be-released book, American History Rex, coming to bookshelves near you this December!
By the way, I must credit Dr. Newmark's blog for finding the list. If you've never visited that world of economic whimsy and wonder, you ought to check it out.
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