Initially rejected by close to 30 publishers, this award-winning book was being challenged by religious conservatives long before J.K. Rowling gave us Harry Potter. Featuring a concept involving higher dimensions, the book begins with a line associated with bad literature and made especially famous by a certain comic strip character. What is the book, and why am I posting a question about it?

stuthehistoryguy

Madeleine L'Engle's novel "A Wrinkle in Time". The author passed away this week at the age of 88. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_was_a_dark_and_stormy_night Sep 08 07, 4:36 PM

Baloo55th

"A Wrinkle in Time", by Madeleine L'Engle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wrinkle_in_Time But I'll be darned if I can find a reason for the question. The quote originally comes from Bulwer-Lytton: "It was a dark and stormy night" and was much used by Snoopy. Bulwer-Lytton has a reputation for extremely bad fiction - mostly with people who have never read any of it. What I've read of his wasn't all that bad. There's worse, and it wasn't as hackneyed when he wrote it. Sep 08 07, 4:41 PM

lanfranco

O.K., you two, you can share a silver tesseract. Take care -- we don't want to lose you. Yes, stu, I posted the question because L'Engle died on Thursday. As for Bulwer-Lytton, I've read a couple of novels by him that I actually enjoyed, which does not mean that I regarded them as great fiction, even in the context of the 19th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bulwer-Lytton,_1st_Baron_Lytton Sep 08 07, 4:54 PM

Baloo55th

I wondered about that but didn't find it in time. For anyone who wants to know what a tesseract looks like (yes, this is relevant) go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract and scroll down to the Image Gallery. Can't say I'd like to travel in one.... Sep 08 07, 4:57 PM

Baloo55th

Must read this book sometime... The dark and stormy night also comes into the little(?) story: It was a dark and stormy night. The brigands were huddled around the fire. The leader called to Antonio to tell a story. Antonio began, "It was a dark and stormy night. The brigands were huddled around the fire. The leader called to Antonio to tell a story. Antonio began, 'It was a dark and stormy night...'" And so on as long as you can get away with it. Sep 08 07, 5:09 PM

lanfranco

Exactly. Sep 08 07, 5:11 PM