Junk Fiction: America's Obsession with Bestsellers - Softcover

Joshi, S.T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1434457133 ISBN 13: 9781434457134

Publisher: Borgo Press, 2009

Synopsis

Bestsellers have been with us for more than a century, ever since the first bestseller list appeared in 1895. But they have received surprisingly little attention from critics. What kind of books become bestsellers? Why do people read them? Do they have literary value or are they merely the literary equivalent of crossword puzzles? S. T. Joshi, a leading critic of horror, fantasy, and mystery fiction, devotes his attention to these and other issues, showing that bestsellers emerged only with the advent of near-universal literacy and the increased leisure time among the masses. Joshi is also aware that most bestsellers fall into the categories of genre fiction: romance (Danielle Steel, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Nora Roberts); mystery (Mary Higgins Clark, Sue Grafton, Patricia Cornwell); suspense (James Patterson, Nelson DeMille); espionage (Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler); horror (Stephen King, Dean Koontz); and so forth.

About this title

About the Author:

S. T. Joshi is the author of more than 100 books, including The Weird Tale, H. P. Lovecraft: The Decline of the West, and The Modern Weird Tale. He lives and works in the Pacific Northwest.

About this edition

• Publisher: Borgo Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1434457133
• ISBN 13: 9781434457134
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 326