Paul Clifford — Complete
The novel that gave English literature its most famous opening line also launched a thousand parody jokes. But "It was a dark and stormy night" barely captures what Edward Bulwer-Lytton achieved in this 1830 sensation: a novel about a man who refuses to be defined by his birth. Paul Clifford is raised in the gutters of London, yet transforms himself into a sophisticated gentleman who also happens to be a notorious thief. He moves between the criminal underworld and high society with ease, living a double life that exposes the arbitrary nature of Victorian morality. When he's not robbing the rich, he's debating philosophy and seducing heiresses. The novel's real target isn't crime but the system that creates it: Bulwer-Lytton dismantles the idea that virtue and villainy are matters of character rather than circumstance. Wildly popular in its day and endlessly influential (in both serious literature and comedy), Paul Clifford remains a romp with teeth. It's for readers who want their adventure tales served with a side of social critique, and anyone curious about how Victorians wrestled with class, punishment, and the thin line between respectability and ruin.
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“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.””
— Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
“It was a dark and stormy night...””
— Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
“Can any man doubt whether it is better to be a great statesman or a common thief?””
— Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
“The ancients," quoth Paul, "were very great men, Mr MacGrawler.""They were so, sir," returned the critic; "we make it a rule of our profession to assert the fact.""But, sir," said Paul, "they were wrong now and then.""Never, Ignoramus; never!""They praised poverty, Mr MacGrawler!" said Paul, with a sigh."Hem!" quoth the critic, a little staggered; but presently recovering his characteristic acumen, he observed, "It is true, Paul; but that was of the poverty of other people.””
— Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
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Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton. Paul Clifford — Complete. Lex, lex-books.com/book/paul-clifford-complete-53ee33b7-550d-4724-8314-1e4b8d8832c8.Edward Bulwer Lytton, B. L. (n.d.). Paul Clifford — Complete. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/paul-clifford-complete-53ee33b7-550d-4724-8314-1e4b8d8832c8Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton. Paul Clifford — Complete. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/paul-clifford-complete-53ee33b7-550d-4724-8314-1e4b8d8832c8.
