17 Incredible Epigraphs That Prove You Should Always Read The First Page As the middle-class reading public materialized in the middle of the eighteenth century, almost no self-respecting publication could do without an epigraph. Emerging readers knew the English but not necessarily the classical tradition; they needed a path, a map of literary culture. Here are 17 of the most memorable epigraphs: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward We on our backs staring at the stars above, Talking about what we going to be when we grow up, I said what you wanna be? She said, Alive. -Outkast, The Art of Storytellin (Part 1) Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion I learned courage from Buddha, Jesus, Lincoln, Einstein, and Cary Grant. -Miss Peggy Lee On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King Honestys the best policy. -Miguel Cervantes Liars prosper. -Anonymous The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides People would never fall in love if they hadnt heard love talked about. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld And you may ask yourself, Well, how did I get here? And you may tell yourself, This is not my beautiful house. And you may tell yourself, This is not my beautiful wife. -Talking Heads The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway You are all a lost generation. -Gertrude Stein in conversation What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose... -Ecclesiastes The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. -Ecclesiastes The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you! -Thomas Parke D’Invilliers (a fictional character from Fitzgeralds This Side of Paradise) White Teeth by Zadie Smith What is past is prologue. -Inscription in Washington, D.C., museum A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore All seats provide equal viewing of the universe. -Museum Guide, Hayden Planetarium Howards End by E.M. Forester Only connect... 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami Its a Barnum and Bailey world, just as phony as it can be, But it wouldnt be make-believe if you believed in me -Billy Rose and E. Y. Yip Harburg, Its Only a Paper Moon A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust. -T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis Oh, lucky Jim, How I envy him. Oh, lucky Jim. How I envy him. -Old song The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Never again will a single story be told as though its the only one. -John Berger We the Animals by Justin Torres Now a boy is of all wild beasts the most difficult to manage. For by how much the more he has the fountain of prudence not fitted up, he becomes crafty and keen, and the most insolent of wild beasts. On this account it is necessary to bind him, as it were, with many chains. -Plato, The Laws Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov This reminds me of the ludicrous account he gave Mr. Langton, of the despicable state of a young gentleman of good family. sir, when I heard of him last, he was running about town shooting cats. And then in a sort of kindly reverie, he bethought himself of his own favorite cat, and said, But Hodge shant be shot: no, no, Hodge shall not be shot. -James Boswell, the Life of Samuel Johnson Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mould me Man, did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me? -Paradise Lost, X, 743-45
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 12:04:09 +0000
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