The bursting of a bubble?
A year ago in comments, Ajay noted that the people who "spotted the Misery Memoir trend" were the John Paulsons and Nouriel Roubinis of the publishing industry. But has the wave crested? I was in Waterstones this afternoon and saw that the section formerly known as "Tragic Lives" had been rechristened "Painful Lives" (possibly because of the ambiguity of "tragic", leading customers to expect to find copies of A Man Called Gove, What Delingpole Did Next and Melanie Phillips: Jokes My Mother Told Me). Not only that but it had been reduced to a single shelf, at ground level underneath the True Crime section. In related news, "Dark Romance" no longer has its own separate category and has been folded into "Dark Fantasy", the consequence being that the total volume of vampire-knobbing books has shrunk and science fiction claimed some of its space back.
Question for home study: Of course, these two genres were spotted as a result of a couple of individual publishing sensations (Twilight, and A Boy Called It). In an alternate universe, where Stephanie Merritt and Dave Peltz's success was instead enjoyed by Ian McEwan, what do you think Waterstones would have called the genre established by knock-offs and pastiches of Saturday and On Chesil Beach?
"Risibly sententious pseudo-literary bullshit"?
ReplyDeleteI don't think you mean "Stephanie Merritt", but it was fun to entertain the thought.
Didn't she write the Twilight books? I'm sure it was Stephanie Someone. Not Flanders.
ReplyDelete"Risibly sententious pseudo-literary bullshit" is accurate, but I'm not sure it would sell. Something like "Deeeeeeep Dads" would be more up Waterstones' alley
Stephenie (three Es) Meyer, that would be.
ReplyDeleteAs for McEwanLit, I think "concerned" is in there somewhere. What I'm really looking for is a way of saying "wanking your conscience and your vocabulary", only in fewer words and without saying 'wank'.
"Fiction", I think. Right?
ReplyDelete"Concerned", perfect.
ReplyDeleteWell, 'On Chesil Beach' knockoffs would need minimal rebranding--"Tragic Sex Lives." Or "Painful Sex Lives," for that matter.
ReplyDelete"Earnest"?
ReplyDeleteMy choice would be "Terribly Serious".
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the Oxford Co-op, which had two chiller cabinets for cheese. One contained various different sorts of Cheddar and was labelled "Cheese". The other contained all the cheese that wasn't Cheddar and was labelled "Fancy Cheese".
It also had an aisle with all the pasta, rice, curry sauces, noodles, soy sauce, tacos and so on, and a sign that said "Continental Food".
"Don't Even Ask"
ReplyDeleteIt also had an aisle with all the pasta, rice, curry sauces, noodles, soy sauce, tacos and so on, and a sign that said "Continental Food".
ReplyDelete"International Cuisine" still where you go to buy spaghetti in CoOp today in Camden, although they can be forgiven much for their "Malt of the Month" promotional campaign (currently offering Laphroaig for £20, which is very good value although not much use to people who don't like Laphroaig; the Aberlour deal has been seen as low as £14.99 which is simply stupendous).
Learning that the Camden Co-Op runs a low-priced Malt of the Month campaign may be the single biggest benefit I have ever gained from any blog.
ReplyDeleteMalt Of The Month is run all over the Co-Op/Somerfield chain, so there's no need to make a pilgrimage to Camden. And Lidl Chablis Premier Cru is also quite good value.
ReplyDeleteI've not noticed this promotion in my local Co-Op *even though I am a member*. But Malt of the Month...that's socialism, people.
ReplyDelete