(#19) / Dark and Stormy Rides Again: The Best (?) from the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest / (compiled) by Scott Rice / (Book)

Opening

Bibliographic Information: 

Dark and Stormy Rides Again: The Best (?) from the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest /

(compiled) by Scott Rice

ISBN-13: 978-0140254907/ Publisher / Penguin (Non-Classics)

122 p. / $8.95 (Half.com)

1996

Body of Content

Summary: The creative writing contest is an annual competition, but only a handful of (annual) compilation works appear in print.  This volume received publication in 1996 and represents the fifth inclusion to the print canon (Amazon, 2011).  The premise of the contest revolves around writers attempting to write (on purpose) the worst opening sentence to an imaginary novel.  The book is broken into a variety of sub-categories – with dozens of “winners” included in each category.  The sentences vary in length – some of which look more like an opening paragraph.  The aforementioned categories include the labels “Purple Prose” (intended elegance) – “Fabio Had Everything Marissa Had Ever Dreamed of in a Man” (romance) – and “As Warp Speed Rattled the Bridge” (science fiction) (Rice, 1996).  The book makes fun of the British author Bulwer-Lytton, noting that he contained “that rare genius who could extrude instant clichés – expressions immediately stale (Rice, 1996, p. 1).

Critique: The book contains one of the cleverest premises for a comedy work – as intended horribleness is the goal.  Many of the sentences are phenomenal – proving that it takes skill to write such poor literary efforts.

For instance, the following entry flowed from the James Thielman,

“As Sonia entered the ballroom, her despair cascaded to the parquet like ionized salts in a faulty centrifuge, to steal from Tolstoy” (Rice, 1996, p. 9).

Like many attempts at poor beginnings, this example holds two central characteristics, 1) wild similes (“ … like ionized salts …”), along with 2) random inclusions of literary or historical allusions (“Tolstoy”) that are off-topic within the framework of the sentence.    

Many of the entries also have love and relationships as a backdrop, including the following entry from Mike Valcho:

“Allan, who throughout most of his forty years read only children’s stories, found that Mother Goose did not prepare him for his night with Helen who was illiterate, but worldly.” (Rice, 1996, p. 68)

Again, the random craft – of finding a manner to stitch a nursery rhyme author with a person’s casual first date – shows the type of humor offered by the compilation book – often unexpected in content, often humorous in affect. 

Given the literary nature of the book – as it uses, understands, and re-deploys key literary devices and vocabulary – the book could easily supplement a high-school level English class – as the teacher could ask students to find the example of “simile” within the entry – and offer students a chance to write their own version of a simile. Overall, the book is a gem.       

Teaser: “Want to read ‘the best’ of ‘the worst’ literature ever written?  Enjoy a contest like none other!”

Information about the Author: Scott Rice serves as editor for this compilation work.  Rice is a professor at San Jose State University – within the English department.  He teaches a multitude of courses – including courses on Satire, Freshman Composition, and Children’s Literature.  The professor holds a terminal degree in his field from the University of Arizona (SJSU, 2011).

Scott started the contest in 1982, and it has since continued as an annual contest.  The inspired title leads allusion to Edward George Bulwer-Lytton – who wrote the eternal words “It was a dark and stormy night …” – as the beginning to his novel Paul Clifford (Rice, 2011).  The contest deadline is flexible – but it officially (and probably purposefully) coincides with April 15^th – tax day for Americans (Rice, 2011).

Supplemental Material

Genre: Humor

Curriculum Ties: English – composition, literature theory, genre, contest

Booktalking Ideas: 1) If you were to sit down and write the worst opening to a novel that you could imagine of – how would it compare to these entries? 2) What is the backdrop for the contest – why do the individual authors lampoon the allusions to the author Edward George Bulwer-Lytton.

Reading Level: A person must know the English rules to break the rules of English language – and as such, the older high school students could very well read this as a supplemental textbook in an English literature class. Best for ages 16-19.

Challenge Issues and Defense: The subject matter contains some sexual innuendos and some language.  The purpose of the content defuses the situation – somewhat.  The language and content is still within the confines of PG-13 and it should not have any problem residing in a high school library or a public library YA department.  

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: This is an absolutely humorous book – most entries produce at least a smile – several entries could function as a weight-loss, comical-inspired diet. This is a must-read for any high school student who dreams of one day majoring in English literature.  

Last Thoughts

References:

Amazon. (2011). Dark and Stormy Rides Again [Webpage]. Retrieved from

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Stormy-Rides-Again-

Bulwer-Lytton/dp/0140254900/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322544099&sr=8-1

Rice, Scott. (2011). The Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest [Webpage]. Retrieved from

            http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

San Jose State University. (2011). English department faculty [Webpage]. Retrieved from

            http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/scott.rice/faculty_Full.htm

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Remedy Drive / Album – “Daylight is Coming”