Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky has a pretty famous opening, and is quite bitter and existential throughout.
Also you’ve possibly read it but The Stranger by Camus is very well known for its first sentence, and for being existential/absurdist.
pmintcloud on
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a giant insect”
*Metamorphosis*
freerangelibrarian on
“I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.”
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi.
FaceOfDay on
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Anna Karenina
Also, it’s not really existential but Pride and Prejudice has one of the best opening lines of all time: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife.”
biblish on
“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
beggargirl on
“ “I’m pretty much fucked. That’s my considered opinion”
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Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky has a pretty famous opening, and is quite bitter and existential throughout.
Also you’ve possibly read it but The Stranger by Camus is very well known for its first sentence, and for being existential/absurdist.
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a giant insect”
*Metamorphosis*
“I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.”
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi.
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Anna Karenina
Also, it’s not really existential but Pride and Prejudice has one of the best opening lines of all time: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife.”
“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
“ “I’m pretty much fucked. That’s my considered opinion”
The Martian by Andy Weir