I’ve been wondering about this. Colleen Hoover is well known as the sort of poster girl for sloppily written, baffling and aggressively mediocre books.
What was the equivalent to her in previous times? Like the Romantic or Modernist period?
During the the 1890s, what book was considered “embarassing” or super low brow to be caught with (in the same way the book community largely treats It Ends With Us)?
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Also I’m probably going to be down voted to hell for this and probably receive a ton of hatemail…
J. K. Rowling used one of the oldest tropes in the litteraly world. “Harry learned the power of love to defeat his enemies”
Like I’m pretty sure they used that on Saturday morning cartoons. “Bad guy D’jour is impervious to our powers. What can we do?”
a small kitten out of nowhere just comes over and nuzzles the bad guy… Bad guy suddenly keels over in pain
“look everyone, this small kitten that has wandered onto set has somehow defeated this Villan with small nuzzles! He cannot love, that’s his weakness!”
Check out “East Lynne”. Huge seller from 1861.
I’m currently reading it, just out of sheer interest.
Would not recommend.
I have no idea if this is actually true, but I learned that this is how Moby Dick was regarded at the time of release.
It’s not true at all. Moby Dick was a commercial failure and began the downfall of Melville’s career as a novelist. Not until the 1920s did Moby Dick work it’s way into the western canon.
I think you’re focusing on Hoover’s success, while I was referring to the negative aspects OP was talking about.
A good way to find these authors: Wikipedia has lists of bestselling books in the US for every year from 1895 to the present.
Looking through the lists, for example, from 1900-1910, you see a few kinds of books:
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Books by authors who are still more or less famous (Edith Wharton, Booth Tarkington, Frank Norris, Upton Sinclair, Arthur Conan Doyle).
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Books you only recognise because someone made a film (The Virginians, The Clansman).
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Books by writers who are obscure but well regarded by academic specialists in that period (Mary Cholmondeley, George Barr McCutcheon).
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Everything else. A lot of the “everything else” will be by the kind of writer you’re looking for.
Don’t read these, you’ll get depressed after the 1950s.
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Persephone books has been publishing lots of early twentieth century popular books by female authors. I thoroughly recommend their website, just for the interesting information on these books. Authors like EM Delafield, Noel Streatfield, Dorothy Whipple, and my personal favourite, Monica Dickens
Thank you!!
Charles Dickens. He published his books in installments called serials. They were cheap to buy, and mass printed. He would often change the direction of his story based on the reaction to the previous installments. People criticized his work, saying it wasn’t literature, but entertainment.
Today, he’s considered one of the greatest novelists of all time.
Death of ‘Little Nell’ ?
Yes! Do people just love A Christmas Carol that much? Great Expectations is one of the most dreadful books I’ve ever read.
Jackie Collins
Not nearly as low-quality as Hoover, but I was amused to learn how many great classics were considered cheap pulp fiction in their time.
Even people like Alexandre Dumas (3 Musketeers, Count of Monte Christo).
I wonder if Grace Livingston Hill would be categorized like that? Same basic plot, over and over, same type of characters (upstanding young man, sweet wallflower girl, villain is usually a fast girl who wears lipstick and has a bob or a man who encourages the girl to drink). I have a whole shelf full of them and still reread them for the nostalgia.
Mary J Holmes I guess? She was a late 1880-1920s knock off Jane Austen, but 100% serious on the tropes. I still remember how pissed I was at the end of her novel Mildred after reading Pride and Prejudice.
“Colleen Hoover is well known as the sort of poster girl for sloppily written, baffling and aggressively mediocre books.”
Thank you! I read one of her books on a recommendation and was dumbfounded at the popularity (never listening to that friend’s book recs again). I just moved on but never looked up the author - hearing that this is her reputation is… well not quite reassuring given the aforementioned popularity, but is at least a bit comforting.
Horatio Alger in the 19th century.
The Bobbsey Twins books which were written by a variety of people.
The person who wrote Flowers in the Attic
In the 70’s Victoria Holt wrote a lot of gothic bestsellers like Verity. In the 80’s Danielle Steele write so much contemporaries.
I loved her stuff back then! I remember one about Marie Antoinette.
It was a dark and stormy night guy