“It was a dark and stormy night” is the quintessential opening purported to be found in gothic novels and ghost stories. Overused and mocked, it is humorously associated with poor, melodramatic writing and you will have seen it a million times. So, when did it first appear?
“It was a dark and stormy night”, is often traced back to a novel written in the 19th century. English novelist, playwright, and politician Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton used the line to open his 1830 book, Paul Clifford. The full opening sentence reads:
“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 housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”
Although the phrase had been in existence before Bulwer-Lytton used it in his book, it is his melodramatic usage to begin his 58-word sentence that has turned it into a shorthand for bad, clichéd writing. Paul Clifford tells the story of a young man who leads a double life as a both a gentleman and a highwayman. The book was successful upon its release and a popular book in its time but is now only remembered for its opening.
These words can also be found in the 1757 journal of the shipwrecked East Indiaman, Doddington, which was eagerly read throughout England, and Washington Irving included it in his 1809 satirical book, Knickerbocker’s History of New York. More recently, Madeleine L’Engle used it in her young adult science fantasy novel, A Wrinkle in Time, first published in 1962.
Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, famously incorporated this phrase in a humorous and self-referencing way through his character Snoopy, who, perched on top of his doghouse with a typewriter, imagines himself to be a writer.
Snoopy’s manuscript begins with the line, “It was a dark and stormy night.” Over the years, and through the course of many strips, Snoopy’s manuscript eventually becomes his magnum opus, a story that brilliantly captures the tone of every bad piece of writing in existence.
You can browse Peanuts comic strips at GoComics and here are Snoopy’s “It was a dark and stormy night” strips. Enjoy the unique humour of Charles Schulz.
In 1971, Schulz published a book compiling these Snoopy writing strips named Snoopy and “It was a dark and stormy night”. It’s out of print but you can get a used edition.
You can read a compilation Snoopy’s “Dark and Stormy Night” manuscripts at this site and decide for yourself whether you think it is some of the world’s worst fiction.
“It was a dark and stormy night” has been described as “the archetypal example of a florid, melodramatic style of fiction writing”. What do you think? Let me know in a comment.
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