It was a dark and stormy night. The archetypal example of a florid, melodramatic style of fiction writing.
The first 'dark and stormy night' was conjured up by the English Victorian novelist, playwright and politician who rejoiced in the name of Sir Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton. It has become synonymous with the Victorian melodramatic style, of which Bulwer-Lytton's many works provide numerous examples. This style has long been out of fashion and considered kitsch and risible. So much so that, since 1982, an annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest has been sponsored by the English Department of San José State University, California. Contestants are required "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels". Bulwer-Lytton's own florid pre-contest attempt, in his novel Paul Clifford.
- Someone requested a thunderstorm / raining sound with a more haunting feel. Something dark and stormy. I thought, 'why not? ' and came up.
- "It was a dark and stormy night " is an often-mocked and parodied phrase written by English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton in the opening sentence of his 1830.
- Directed by Larry Blamire. With Jim Beaver, Jennifer Blaire, Larry Blamire, Bob Burns. In the 1930s the family of old Sinas Cavinder, gathered for the reading of.
- “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.
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night – the game for people who love to read. You and your friends will have fun—and some great conversation—testing your book.
Alesana – It Was A Dark And Stormy Night
1830, began:. "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. ". The phrase has been used frequently as a comic device by Charles M.
Schulz in the popular comic strip Peanuts. The aspiring author Snoopy is often portrayed typing 'a dark and stormy night'.
Bulwer-Lytton's literary efforts weren't entirely in vain. His work was highly popular during his lifetime and he has left us more than 'a dark and stormy night'. For instance, the great unwashed and the pen is mightier than the sword.