[Ads-l] cliffhanger (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

In 2014 there was some discussion of cliffhangers on the list.

This:

https://michaelzmuda.com/2015/11/

Suggests that the original cliffhanger was Thomas Hardy's creation:

"The term cliffhanger is attributed to Thomas Hardy’s serial novel A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873), in which, at the end of chapter 21, Hardy chose to leave his protagonist Henry Knight hanging off a cliff, while waiting for Elfride Swancourt to help. As his grip weakens Swancourt returns in chapter 22, taking off her clothes and making a rope of her petticoats, pulling Knight to safety with them. Unable to conceal each others’ feelings any longer, they embrace."
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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