5 ms·

To me, Anna Karenina is really mostly notable for having the second-greatest opening line in all literature.

by Endy 8y ago

roel_v 8y ago
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way", to save others a google.
ravieira 8y ago
What's the first?
aidenn0 8y ago
And the greatest?
- propertius 8y ago
  "Call me Ishmael"?
  - toufiqbarhamov 8y ago
    A screaming comes across the sky.
    - willmhorne 8y ago
      Now, Everybody--- It's hard to pinpoint a "best," but I agree that this one (from Gravity's Rainbow) it quite, quite good, one I recall often.
- quantumhobbit 8y ago
  There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
- rjf72 8y ago
  "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." Definitely the greatest line I've ever read. Such extensive imagery and metaphor (well beyond just the sky), tucked into 15 words.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    And teens today (or soon) would not visually know what "television tuned to a dead channel" meant...
    - Endy 8y ago
      It's almost more profound in some ways - on a lot of modern TVs, a dead channel is displayed as being a solid field of bright blue. So, it changes the way Sprawl's sky appears to each reader, but it makes the change take place in Case's head. If it's bright blue, and a person recognizes that first as related to a TV, what does that say about the way they perceive the world? Especially with how bad Case wants digital access.
- kazinator 8y ago
  "Common Lisp is a new dialect of Lisp, a successor to MacLisp, influenced strongly by Zetalisp and to some extent by Scheme and Interlisp."
- Endy 8y ago
  Kafka. "One day, Gregor Samsa awoke to find himself transformed into a giant cockroach."
nachexnachex 8y ago
¿En un lugar de la Mancha...?
martythemaniak 8y ago
The greatest one being, of course: "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times."
osullivj 8y ago
It is a truth universally acknowledged... Jane Austen, naturally.

To me, Anna Karenina is really mostly notable for having the second-greatest opening line in all literature.

by Endy 8y ago

To me, Anna Karenina is really mostly notable for having the second-greatest opening line in all literature.

roel_v 8y ago

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way", to save others a google.

ravieira 8y ago

What's the first?

aidenn0 8y ago

And the greatest?

propertius 8y ago
"Call me Ishmael"?
- toufiqbarhamov 8y ago
  A screaming comes across the sky.
  - willmhorne 8y ago
    Now, Everybody--- It's hard to pinpoint a "best," but I agree that this one (from Gravity's Rainbow) it quite, quite good, one I recall often.
quantumhobbit 8y ago
There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
rjf72 8y ago
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." Definitely the greatest line I've ever read. Such extensive imagery and metaphor (well beyond just the sky), tucked into 15 words.
- coldtea 8y ago
  And teens today (or soon) would not visually know what "television tuned to a dead channel" meant...
  - Endy 8y ago
    It's almost more profound in some ways - on a lot of modern TVs, a dead channel is displayed as being a solid field of bright blue. So, it changes the way Sprawl's sky appears to each reader, but it makes the change take place in Case's head. If it's bright blue, and a person recognizes that first as related to a TV, what does that say about the way they perceive the world? Especially with how bad Case wants digital access.
kazinator 8y ago
"Common Lisp is a new dialect of Lisp, a successor to MacLisp, influenced strongly by Zetalisp and to some extent by Scheme and Interlisp."
Endy 8y ago
Kafka. "One day, Gregor Samsa awoke to find himself transformed into a giant cockroach."

nachexnachex 8y ago

¿En un lugar de la Mancha...?

martythemaniak 8y ago

The greatest one being, of course: "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times."

osullivj 8y ago

It is a truth universally acknowledged... Jane Austen, naturally.