“In the” vs “At the” [closed]

Question

I am not sure which one is correct:

In the beginning of the book

or

At the beginning of the book

As in the sentence:

In the beginning of the book Marco describes his early life.

Answer 1

"In the" sounds like it's going on for a while — a chapter or two.

"At the" sounds like a point on a line: he describes everything in one or two paragraphs and then moves on.

Both are grammatically correct, but I think they have slightly different shades of meaning.

Answer 2

Either is fine. But they have slightly different... connotations.

"In the beginning" makes most people in the western world think/associate that ancient book called the (Christian) Bible. Which starts out with "In the beginning" ;-)

So, it gets a more epic feel right off the bat than if I started with "At the beginning". "At the beginning" is more modern-sounding (to my ears, anyway).

And "At the beginning" makes me automatically think of a state more than a process ("In" is more neutral that way). So, "At the beginning of our tale, Marco is standing in his workshop" is something I would expect.

Hmm, come to think of it some more, this sounds like a synopsis more than an actual book. Or maybe it's not a question about writing fiction but about writing non-fiction? Or writing non-fiction about fiction? ;-) If so, then my answer is probably way off.

Answer 3

Either is fine to my ear/eyes.

Answer 4

I think of things happening in sections of books, not at (which implies a location) sections of books.

I also tried changing it around:

Marco describes his early life in the beginning of the book.

Marco describes his early life at the beginning of the book.

"In" is my choice.