A lot of good stuff here (I've probably read only ~ 1/3 of the listed) but for pure symphonic grandeur, "You Can't Go Home Again" is hard to beat: (like Faulkner, you've got to cut Wolfe a little slack as to what constitutes a sentence)
Something has spoken to me in the night, burning the tapers of the waning year; something has spoken in the night, and told me I shall die, I know not where. Saying: "To lose the earth you know, for greater knowing; to lose the life you have, for greater life; to leave the friends you loved, for greater loving; to find a land more kind than home, more large than earth---- Whereon the pillars of this earth are founded, towards which the conscience of the world is tending--a wind is rising, and the rivers flow."
1984 has a great closing line. To be a truly great closing line the whole book has to lead up to that one line. That's where I personally think I excel, and I'll put Small Crimes, Outsourced, Pariah and The Caretaker of Lorne Field closing lines up against most of those.
I always liked the ending of Samuel Beckett's MOLLOY: "It is midnight, it is raining. It is not midnight, it is not raining." Seems to sum up Beckett's entire approach right there.
7 comments:
Hard to beat THE GREAT GATSBY.
A lot of good stuff here (I've probably read only ~ 1/3 of the listed) but for pure symphonic grandeur, "You Can't Go Home Again" is hard to beat: (like Faulkner, you've got to cut Wolfe a little slack as to what constitutes a sentence)
Something has spoken to me in the night, burning the tapers of the waning year; something has spoken in the night, and told me I shall die, I know not where. Saying:
"To lose the earth you know, for greater knowing; to lose the life you have, for greater life; to leave the friends you loved, for greater loving; to find a land more kind than home, more large than earth----
Whereon the pillars of this earth are founded, towards which the conscience of the world is tending--a wind is rising, and the rivers flow."
1984 has a great closing line. To be a truly great closing line the whole book has to lead up to that one line. That's where I personally think I excel, and I'll put Small Crimes, Outsourced, Pariah and The Caretaker of Lorne Field closing lines up against most of those.
"It was easy," I said.
I, THE JURY, Mickey Spillane
I, THE JURY was the first one that came to my mind
I, THE JURY indeed.
LORNE FIELD was indeed pretty chillng, Dave. Great stuff.
Jeff
I always liked the ending of Samuel Beckett's MOLLOY: "It is midnight, it is raining. It is not midnight, it is not raining." Seems to sum up Beckett's entire approach right there.
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