Looking for examples of a specific writing structure
November 27, 2015 1:28 PM Subscribe
Can you think of any examples of pieces of writing that open with a . . . temporal bait-and-switch?
Like: "This 'famous quotation' sure sounds like someone describing conditions in 2015, but in fact it's from 1965!!" or even something like "Pop quiz: is this 'famous quotation' from 2015 or 1965?"
I am having terrible trouble trying to do this and it's got me in a writing hole. Would love to see some published examples.
Like: "This 'famous quotation' sure sounds like someone describing conditions in 2015, but in fact it's from 1965!!" or even something like "Pop quiz: is this 'famous quotation' from 2015 or 1965?"
I am having terrible trouble trying to do this and it's got me in a writing hole. Would love to see some published examples.
There is this (spurious) quote attributed to Socrates:
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."
posted by 4ster at 2:10 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."
posted by 4ster at 2:10 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
These "parenting? or post apocalypse??" paragraphs are sort of that, if you assume that the future will inevitably be awful, but they're more of a setting bait and switch than a temporal one.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 2:27 PM on November 27, 2015
posted by Jon Mitchell at 2:27 PM on November 27, 2015
There's this radio program on the BBC. That's not exactly what you asked for, but it's basically written around the idea. Every episode of The Long View opens this way; there's currently 4 available to download.
posted by sourcejedi at 2:49 PM on November 27, 2015
posted by sourcejedi at 2:49 PM on November 27, 2015
I was just looking at a book that did that in an extended way: Amity Shlaes' The Forgotten Man.
The introduction opens with a series of events/news stories that sound like they are dispatches from the depths of the Great Depression, but actually come from 1937. The part in question comprises roughly the first three pages of the introduction - you can use look inside on Amazon to see it.
posted by clerestory at 3:17 PM on November 27, 2015
The introduction opens with a series of events/news stories that sound like they are dispatches from the depths of the Great Depression, but actually come from 1937. The part in question comprises roughly the first three pages of the introduction - you can use look inside on Amazon to see it.
posted by clerestory at 3:17 PM on November 27, 2015
I guess this isn't quite what you want, but "temporal bait-and-switch" makes me think of Despoilers of the Golden Empire. Originally published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1959, it conforms to the style of the space operas of the day so well that most readers didn't realize until the very last sentence that it was actually history, described in misleading but literally true terms.
posted by baf at 4:31 PM on November 27, 2015
posted by baf at 4:31 PM on November 27, 2015
To be honest, I'm not positive I understand your question. Are you looking for examples like 10 Nikola Tesla Quotes That Still Apply Today?
posted by losvedir at 6:31 PM on November 27, 2015
posted by losvedir at 6:31 PM on November 27, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by johngoren at 2:02 PM on November 27, 2015 [1 favorite]