Paul Clifford Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 9781279335819 Books
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<title> Paul Clifford
<author> Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton
<publisher> Tauchnitz, 1842
<subjects> Fiction; Romance; Suspense; Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Historical; Fiction / Romance / Suspense
Paul Clifford Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 9781279335819 Books
If the line above sounds familiar, that's because it originally came from Paul Clifford, written in 1830 by the famed Victorian novelist Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a prolific and popular author in his time. Many today attribute that line to the late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz' creation, the literary beagle Snoopy, as we can see in his book "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, Snoopy", but that title was obviously based quite loosely on Bulwer-Lytton's original opening line:"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 house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."
Today this is often referred to as 'purple prose,' a term of literary criticism used to describe passages, or sometimes entire literary works, written in prose so extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to break the flow and draw attention to itself. And Bulwer-Lytton's novel is full of such sentences, which often run on to complete paragraphs. His book Paul Clifford, called for reforms in the judicial system and of the penal code in England of that time, using a highwayman as the hero.
On that dark and stormy night, three-year-old Paul Clifford, the novel's hero, experiences his mother's death of his mother, a character we are led to believe was a prostitute. He is raised at a public house called the Mug, and most of the patrons are not of the highest moral character. But Paul shows some promise of not only transcending the depravity of his surroundings, but also of possibly distinguishing himself as an intellectual.
Paul leaves the confines of the public house, and his first step towards a career is to join the one-man writing staff of his tutor's magazine. His work is plagiarized and he is scammed out of the financial rewards, so he angrily strikes off on his own. Angry with no good prospects, he falls in with the wrong crowd, including some former patrons of the Mug who befriend him and encourage him to live well beyond his means. As the result of a series of events, joining up with a gang of criminals, leading the reader to believe that there is still hope, but eventually, due to want of money and lack of protection, he joins up with a gang of criminals.
Bulwer-Lytton's narrative fast-forwards a few years, and Paul has risen to be the leader of the band of thieves, who employ themselves primarily as highwaymen, robbing carriages at night on the roads outside of London. Paul has become a dashing and well-respected man in the criminal world, and is even considered gentlemanly to those not aware of his character or of his social standing in the criminal world. Paul was once destined for greatness, but for the time-being, his greatness is only achieved in the criminal world.
Can Paul pull himself up by his highwayman's bootstraps and achieve the greatness to which he once aspired? The answer to that question can be found in the pages of Bulwer-Lytton narrative here, but be aware that you'll have to weed through quite a bit of purple passages to get there, sensually evocative beyond the requirements of its context, to put it directly.
Bulwer-Lytton's purple prose lives on. In 1982, Dr. Scott Rice of the English Department at San Jose State University started what is known today as the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, based on the opening of the book. It annually celebrates literary achievements of the most dubious sort, the worst in English writing, and has grown to have entrants from around the world.
In Charles M. Schulz' aforementioned book, Snoopy is portrayed as sitting on the top of his doghouse, writing the following with his typewriter:
"It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A door slammed. The maid screamed. Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon! While millions of people were starving, the king lived in luxury. Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas, a boy was growing up."
Read Snoopy's passage, and then again read the opening from Bulwer-Lytton's original. You may wist to pass on this book, but it is a Kindle freebie, and you may want to pick it up and read it on some dark and stormy night...
9/9/2012
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Paul Clifford Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 9781279335819 Books Reviews
I started off witht he paperback and switched to the version. The old style is too long winded for me so I quit reading about 1/2 through.
excellent read.
KFW
Famous for its opening line. This book is well written in the dialect of the time but is a tedious read.
This is a very odd size for a paperback book. It is 8.5 inches x 11 inches and does not even fit on the shelves in my library. It is also very, very poorly printed with odd fonts and font sizes and inconsistent quality of ink.
I'm having trouble staying interested in the narrative. This is mostly because, in my opinion, the author wrote in such a forensic and methodical manner. I've enjoyed reading several other classic authors, but Bulwer-Lytton just leaves me yawning.
Surprisingly entertaining.
I enjoyed this book tremendously. The writing style is old fashioned - 19th century - and yet the author's ideas are surprisingly "modern". He invented a hero whose social philosophy is well ahead of the time he lived in. Considering that the author himself belongs to the upper classes, this is surprising and somehow satisfying. The writing is full of sarcasm and often funny. The plot is completely implausible, but it is so entertaining that we still cheer for the hero. It is fitting that our favorite characters end up in America, the country where every immigrant could have a fresh beginning, no matter his past deeds, and where there is social equality (presumably.)
Paul Clifford by Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton
This is a marvelous and greatly maligned piece of fiction that begins with this ever over-popularized piece of purple prose.
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 house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
Bulwer-Lytton, Baron Edward (2012-05-16). Paul Clifford - Complete (p. 9). . Edition.
One must wonder when looking at the Point of View of this novel which seems to be some omniscient narrator who in a rather tongue and cheeky fashion keeps addressing the reader directly through the holes he creates in the forth wall. By the end of the story there are more holes in that wall than there might be in a block of Swiss cheese. This and the florid manor of writing alone cause one to suspect the author has deliberately waxed purple all the way through this seemingly florid bit of prose.
Add to this a later instance of similar quality
It was a frosty and tolerably clear night. The dusk of the twilight had melted away beneath the moon which had just risen, and the hoary rime glittered from the bushes and the sward, breaking into a thousand diamonds as it caught the rays of the stars.
Bulwer-Lytton, Baron Edward (2012-05-16). Paul Clifford - Complete (p. 246). . Edition.
Granted there is a period here after night, but then how much different is that really than the semicolon of the former. I think that the author is having the last laugh, if he could only see how well quoted he has become.
Beyond such valuable prose this novel holds many things. I've read the analysis that it portrays the injustice of the justice system of the time holding that our hero who ends up being a rogue and highwayman is unjustly convicted and housed among other thieves where he may learn more of the craft of thievery from the real pros. And this does seem to be a major thread that runs through the novel with multitudes of soliloquies about such injustice and the justification for all men to become Robin Hoods. But there is so much more here. What I've mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg.
Another rather important thread that touches early in the story seems almost to address the issue of florid prose or at least perhaps the criticism of such.
For background; in the story, Paul has been orphaned and left to the care of Mrs. Margery Lobkins who is owner of an inn and alehouse and is rough around the edges but seems to have a heart of gold. Mrs.Lobkins who would likely never attempt to have children of her own vows to do her best to educate Paul to the fullest of her ability. To this end she enlists the help of many of her clientele who often do display higher levels of learning in some areas. The trouble is that many of these men are of ill repute and such relationships created with Paul make this reader wonder about the previous assessment that this is primarily a novel about how the system makes the young man go wrong. Enter into this group Mr. Peter MacGrawler; whose station in life seems often to be in question. He is a frequenter of the Lobkins alehouse and an editor of a magazine that promotes prints and critiques literary works. He becomes Paul's tutor and eventually his employer for a brief time after he teaches Paul the art of the critique.
This brings us to what seems to be a most scathing view of what a critique is. Paul is taught in a nutshell how to critique works of which MacGrawler seems to predestine rather arbitrarily to specific fates.
"Listen, then," rejoined MacGrawler; and as he spoke, the candle cast an awful glimmering on his countenance. "To slash is, speaking grammatically, to employ the accusative, or accusing case; you must cut up your book right and left, top and bottom, root and branch. To plaster a book is to employ the dative, or giving case; and you must bestow on the work all the superlatives in the language,—you must lay on your praise thick and thin, and not leave a crevice untrowelled. But to tickle, sir, is a comprehensive word, and it comprises all the infinite varieties that fill the interval between slashing and plastering. This is the nicety of the art, and you can only acquire it by practice; a few examples will suffice to give you an idea of its delicacy.
Bulwer-Lytton, Baron Edward (2012-05-16). Paul Clifford - Complete (p. 42). . Edition.
And as if that isn't enough MacGrawler explains it is not always necessary to read the entire piece; though they may be required to read some of a piece they tickle he offers this further explanation.
MacGrawler continued— "There is another grand difficulty attendant on this class of criticism.—it is generally requisite to read a few pages of the work; because we seldom tickle without extracting, and it requires some judgment to make the context agree with the extract. But it is not often necessary to extract when you slash or when you plaster; when you slash, it is better in general to conclude with 'After what we have said, it is unnecessary to add that we cannot offend the taste of our readers by any quotation from this execrable trash.' And when you plaster, you may wind up with 'We regret that our limits will not allow us to give any extracts from this wonderful and unrivalled work. We must refer our readers to the book itself.'
Bulwer-Lytton, Baron Edward (2012-05-16). Paul Clifford - Complete (p. 43). . Edition.
Paul does well as a critique, but finds it does not pay well and when he finds that MacGrawler has been pocketing money that belongs to him he quits and this is how he moves into the world of Highwaymen.
It is through the acquaintance of his past that he's caught for someone else crime and sentenced to prison. And somewhere from prison; to escape; to joining the gang, he's introduced to the moral conundrum that allows the thieves to lie, cheat, and steal with a sense of impunity. And Paul becomes a leader among the highwaymen.
This novel is far from over because there is a romance between a roguish rake and gentle lady. There's a mystery about Paul's origins. And there is the moral comparison of those in charge of the governing of men to those who would rob them on the road.
This novel should be a must read, especially by those whose only introduction is through the first line in the novel. Sure it might act as an example of what not to do, but it contains elements that show up even in today's fiction; both romance and fantasy. Along with all the florid passages are a number of threads that feed an interesting plot. Lovers of romance should find this interesting and lovers of such fiction as The Three Musketeers and Count of Monte Cristo will certainly be entertained.
Lastly lovers of the classics in all their purple nature will enjoy this novel and perhaps revel in the humor of the delivery. (I may be seeing some humor that wasn't intended.)
Novels like this make me wonder if today we haven't taken the bite out of good fiction. We've weakened and decayed the author's teeth through a lack of Florid-ation.
J.L. Dobias
If the line above sounds familiar, that's because it originally came from Paul Clifford, written in 1830 by the famed Victorian novelist Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a prolific and popular author in his time. Many today attribute that line to the late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz' creation, the literary beagle Snoopy, as we can see in his book "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, Snoopy", but that title was obviously based quite loosely on Bulwer-Lytton's original opening line
"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 house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."
Today this is often referred to as 'purple prose,' a term of literary criticism used to describe passages, or sometimes entire literary works, written in prose so extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to break the flow and draw attention to itself. And Bulwer-Lytton's novel is full of such sentences, which often run on to complete paragraphs. His book Paul Clifford, called for reforms in the judicial system and of the penal code in England of that time, using a highwayman as the hero.
On that dark and stormy night, three-year-old Paul Clifford, the novel's hero, experiences his mother's death of his mother, a character we are led to believe was a prostitute. He is raised at a public house called the Mug, and most of the patrons are not of the highest moral character. But Paul shows some promise of not only transcending the depravity of his surroundings, but also of possibly distinguishing himself as an intellectual.
Paul leaves the confines of the public house, and his first step towards a career is to join the one-man writing staff of his tutor's magazine. His work is plagiarized and he is scammed out of the financial rewards, so he angrily strikes off on his own. Angry with no good prospects, he falls in with the wrong crowd, including some former patrons of the Mug who befriend him and encourage him to live well beyond his means. As the result of a series of events, joining up with a gang of criminals, leading the reader to believe that there is still hope, but eventually, due to want of money and lack of protection, he joins up with a gang of criminals.
Bulwer-Lytton's narrative fast-forwards a few years, and Paul has risen to be the leader of the band of thieves, who employ themselves primarily as highwaymen, robbing carriages at night on the roads outside of London. Paul has become a dashing and well-respected man in the criminal world, and is even considered gentlemanly to those not aware of his character or of his social standing in the criminal world. Paul was once destined for greatness, but for the time-being, his greatness is only achieved in the criminal world.
Can Paul pull himself up by his highwayman's bootstraps and achieve the greatness to which he once aspired? The answer to that question can be found in the pages of Bulwer-Lytton narrative here, but be aware that you'll have to weed through quite a bit of purple passages to get there, sensually evocative beyond the requirements of its context, to put it directly.
Bulwer-Lytton's purple prose lives on. In 1982, Dr. Scott Rice of the English Department at San Jose State University started what is known today as the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, based on the opening of the book. It annually celebrates literary achievements of the most dubious sort, the worst in English writing, and has grown to have entrants from around the world.
In Charles M. Schulz' aforementioned book, Snoopy is portrayed as sitting on the top of his doghouse, writing the following with his typewriter
"It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A door slammed. The maid screamed. Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon! While millions of people were starving, the king lived in luxury. Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas, a boy was growing up."
Read Snoopy's passage, and then again read the opening from Bulwer-Lytton's original. You may wist to pass on this book, but it is a freebie, and you may want to pick it up and read it on some dark and stormy night...
9/9/2012
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