Bestsellers: Popular Fiction Since 1900

445 Pages·2008·1.121 MB·English

by  Clive Bloom (auth.)

Bestsellers
Popular Fiction Since 1900
Second Edition
Clive Bloom
Bestsellers
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VIOLENT LONDON: 2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts
Bestsellers: Popular Fiction
Since 1900
Second Edition
Clive Bloom
© Clive Bloom 2002,2008
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988,or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House,6–10 Kirby street,London ECIN8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2002
Second edition 2008
published by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publisher Limited,
registered in England,company number 785998,of Houndmills,Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St.Martin’s Press LLC,175 Fifth
Avenue,New York,NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom,Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-0-230-53689-0 ISBN 978-0-230-58387-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230583870
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources.Logging,pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bloom,Clive.
Bestsellers :popular fiction since 1900 / Clive Bloom.– 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. English fiction–20th century–History and criticism. 2. Popular
literature–Great Britain–History and criticism. 3. Books and
reading–Great Britain–History–20th century. 4. Best sellers–Great
Britain–Bibliography. I. Title.
PR888.P68B58 2008
823′.9109–dc22
2008029955
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
For my Mum, Esther Bloom
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Contents
Preface to the Second Edition xvi
Preface to the First Edition xviii
Acknowledgements to the Second Edition xx
Acknowledgements to the First Edition xx
Introduction to the Second Edition 1
1 Origins, Problems and Philosophy of the Bestseller 23
2 How the British Read 51
Literacy 51
Assessing literacy levels 51
Literacy in practice 54
Reading and the Influences of Cinema,
Television and Radio 57
The Library System 64
Librarians, Sales, and the Female Reader 72
Publishers 77
Building on an established market 77
The market for hardback books 81
The Paperback 83
Paperbacks and Pulp Fiction 86
Censorship 92
Publishing at the End of the Twentieth Century 96
3 Genre: History and Form 107
4 Literature for Children 130
5 Further Thoughts on Literature for Children 149
6 Best-selling Authors Since 1900 161
An Age Passes, an Age Begins: 1900 to 1918 165
Florence L. Barclay 165
J. M. Barrie 166
vii
viii Contents
Arnold Bennett 167
Angela Brazil 168
John Buchan 168
Edgar Rice Burroughs 170
Hall Caine 171
Marie Corelli 172
Arthur Conan Doyle 173
Charles Garvice 175
Elinor Glyn 175
Nat Gould 176
Kenneth Grahame 179
Robert Hichens 179
William Le Queux 181
W. J. Locke 181
A. E. W. Mason 182
Edith Nesbit 183
E. Phillips Oppenheim 184
Baroness Orczy 185
Beatrix Potter 185
Arthur Ransome 186
Sax Rohmer 187
Effie A. Rowlands 188
Berta Ruck 188
Edgar Wallace 189
Dolf Wyllarde (Dorothy Margarette Selby Lowndes) 190
The Interwar Years: 1919 to the Early 1930s 191
Agatha Christie 191
Richmal Crompton 192
Warwick Deeping 193
Ethel M. Dell and Ruby M. Ayres 193
Jeffrey Farnol 195
Sidney Horler 196
E. M. Hull 197
A. S. M. Hutchinson 197
A. A. Milne 198
J. B. Priestley 199
W. Riley 200
Rafael Sabatini 201
Sapper (Herman Cyril McNeile) 201
Mary Webb 202
Contents ix
P. G. Wodehouse 203
Virginia Woolf 204
P. C. Wren 205
Dornford Yates 205
World War Two to Suez: The Late 1930s to 1956 207
Kingsley Amis 207
Reverend W. V. Awdry 207
James Hadley Chase 208
Peter Cheyney 209
John Creasey 209
A. J. Cronin 210
Lloyd Douglas 211
Daphne du Maurier 211
Robert Graves 213
C. S. Forester 214
Stephen Francis (Hank Janson) 215
Erle Stanley Gardner 216
William Golding 217
Georgette Heyer 217
James Hilton 218
Hammond Innes 219
W. Somerset Maugham 220
Margaret Mitchell 221
Nicholas Monsarrat 221
George Orwell 222
Mary Renault (Mary Challans) 222
Nevil Shute 223
Mickey Spillane 224
J. R. R. Tolkien 225
Dennis Wheatley 227
The Paperback Years: 1957 to 1974 229
Richard Bach 229
H. E. Bates 229
Enid Blyton 230
Anthony Burgess 231
Sheila Burnford 232
Eric Carle 232
Arthur C. Clarke 233
James Clavell 234