First Line

Posted on October 2, 2004 by sheila

I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me; had they duly considered how much depended upon what they were then doing; — that not only the production of a rational Being was concerned in it, but that possibily the happy formation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind; — and, for aught they knew to the contrary, even the fortunes of his whole house might take their turn from the humours and dispositions which were then uppermost: — Had they duly weighted and considered all this, and proceeded accordingly, — I am verily persuaded I should have made a quite different figure in the world, from that, in which the reader is likely to see me.

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4 Responses to First Line

  1. Kaptin Marko says:
    October 3, 2004 at 10:10 am

    I believe this is “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman”, by Lawrence Sterne

  2. Dave J says:
    October 3, 2004 at 10:30 am

    If it is, it’s a great book: a hilarious parody of 18th-century novels in general, in all its self-important introspection and over-the-top convoluted language. I mean, this is ONE sentence.

  3. red says:
    October 3, 2004 at 10:54 am

    Yes!! Tristan Shandy – I’m so excited someone got this one.

  4. Dave J says:
    October 3, 2004 at 11:30 am

    Who was supposed to have been named, I believe, “Trismagistus Hermeticus.” LOL

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