Bestsellers: A Very Short Introduction - Softcover

Sutherland, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199214891 ISBN 13: 9780199214891

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2007

Synopsis

Lady Chatterley's Lover. The Blue Lagoon. Portnoy's Complaint. The Da Vinci Code. For the last century, the tastes and preferences of the common reader have been reflected in the American and British bestseller lists, and this Very Short Introduction takes an engaging look through the lists to reveal what we have been reading--and why. John Sutherland shows that bestseller lists monitor one of the strongest pulses in modern literature and are therefore worthy of serious study. Exploring the relationship between bestsellers and the fashions, ideologies, and cultural concerns of the day, the book includes short case-studies and lively summaries of bestsellers through the years: from In His Steps--now almost totally forgotten, but the biggest all-time bestseller between 1895 and 1945--to Gone with the Wind, The Andromeda Strain, and The Da Vinci Code. Discussing both classic and contemporary novels, alongside some surprising titles and long-forgotten names. Sutherland lifts the lid on the bestseller industry, revealing what makes a book into a bestseller and what separates bestsellers from canonical fiction.

About this title

About the Author

John Sutherland is Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London, and Professor of Literature at Caltech. The author of many books, he writes and reviews widely, including in the TLS and LRB, and writes regular columns in the Guardian, Financial Times, New Statesman, and Sunday Telegraph. In 2005, he was chair of the Man-Booker fiction prize committee.

Review

Sutherland effectively challenges the assumption that a book's commercial success somehow invalidates either its author's integrity or the critical acumen of its readers. Instead we are offered a plausible vision of the blockbuster or the bodice-ripper as narrative in its purest form. * Jonathan Keates, TLS * breezily entertaining * Kevin Power, Irish Times (Dublin) * His amiable trawl through the history of popular books is frequently entertaining * Scott Pack, The Times *

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0199214891
• ISBN 13: 9780199214891
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 127