y separately published work icon The Conversation newspaper issue  
Issue Details: First known date: 2016... 19 April 2016 of The Conversation est. 2011 The Conversation
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* Contents derived from the , 2016 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
'First Sentences Establish a Contract with the Reader about What Is to Come.', Camilla Nelson , single work essay

'In Albert Camus’ The Plague (1947), an epidemic spreads across Oran, a town on Africa’s north coast, as Joseph Grand attempts to write a novel. Grand dreams of writing a book that will cause his publisher to leap up from his desk (the publishers in this world are men), and gasp in wonder.

'But he can’t get the first sentence right. He worries at every detail, frets over meaning and rhythm. He arranges and rearranges it. There is no possibility of a second sentence. Without the first line, the novel is obstructed'
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