Truths Universally Acknowledged: Memorable Opening Sentences in the Novel

ABSTRACT Most readers have an instinctive understanding of the importance of the first sentence or two of a novel. Nonetheless, there is little that has been written at a serious theoretical level about what makes an opening sentence memorable. Drawing on the work of Michael Halliday and Robert de Beaugrande, this article does this by setting out a theory that explains the central aspects of the opening sentence’s informational content. A range of different opening sentences will be analyzed to illustrate the theory.