Classic Cult Fiction: A Companion to Popular Cult Literature [Hardcover]

Thomas Reed Whissen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 031326550X | ISBN-13: 978-0313265501 | Publication Date: March 30, 1992 | Edition: annotated edition

Question: What does Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951) have in common with Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774)? Answer: Actually a great deal. They are classics of cult fiction and share many attributes. Cult fiction is a reader-created genre. A "cult" book can appear within any type of literary genre--for instance, romance, mystery, science fiction--but will achieve cult status only on the basis of reader response. It has qualities that "speak" to a reader, who may feel that it has been written for him or her alone; yet this very personal appeal is widespread, and such a book may grow in popularity almost as an underground movement, inspiring a generation of readers and sometimes enduring as a mainstream classic. Though amazingly diverse, such books also have astonishing commonalities pervasive enough to qualify them as comprising a genre. Classic Cult Fiction is a history, analysis, and reference guide to books that have become "bibles" to generations of Europeans and Americans over the past two hundred years. Though "canon formation" is an awesome prospect, sure to lead to challenges by scholars and readers alike, author Thomas Whissen fearlessly identifies the top fifty classic cult books, first presenting an informed and witty interpretation of the phenomenon and its characteristics with examples from different cultures and periods. Cult fiction is shown to be a product of the Romantic movement and a reflection of the persistent romantic temperament in Western civilization. The work offers insights into the mentality of the Golden Age of Cult Fiction, the 1960s, by analyzing the cult books that both influenced the age and were influenced by it. The fifty individual works are each discussed relative to time and place, impact, and audience psychology and analyzed in terms of common cult attributes. A chronological listing of cult fiction adds a number of titles not chosen for the top fifty. An original approach to criticism, this literary companion argues the case for cult fiction as a distinct genre and offers fifty fresh and thought provoking essays to back up the contention.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Whissen argues persuasively that cult fiction is a distinct genre that can influence and change individuals and Western society. Cult books encompass the cultural components of "romanticism, democratic idealism, myth-dream, opportunity, and truth" and the psychological components of "idealization, alienation, ego-reinforcement, suffering, and vulnerability" and reinvent reality because the world has strayed from traditional values or is heading in the wrong direction. Reader response is crucial for cult status; readers must feel that the book speaks for them. To explore this genre, Whissen selected 50 novels, most written in the United States after 1945, and wrote individual essays. He summarizes the plots, themes, and characters; describes the cult status of each book; and makes appropriate comparisons to similar cult books. Thought-provoking and challenging, Classic Cult Fiction is recommended.
- Cheryl L. Conway, Univ. of Arkansas Lib., Fayetteville
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Whissen argues persuasively that cult fiction is a distinct genre that can influence and change individuals and Western society. Cult books encompass the cultural components of "romanticism, democratic idealism, myth-dream, opportunity, and truth" and the psychological components of "idealization, alienation, ego-reinforcement, suffering, and vulnerability" and re-invent reality because the world has strayed from traditional values or is heading in the wrong direction. Reader response is crucial for cult status; readers must feel that the book speaks for them. To explore this genre, Whissen selected 50 novels, most written in the United States after 1945, and wrote individual essays. He summarizes the plots, themes, and characters; describes the cult status of each book; and makes appropriate comparisons to similar cult books. Thought-provoking and challenging. Classic Cult Fiction is recommended.”–Library Journal

“During the 1950s, such novels as Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies attracted a dedicated following on college campuses. During the 1960s, these perennial favorites were joined by a number of new publications, including Catch-22 and Trout Fishing in America; and by the 1970s, students were reading and identifying with such works as The Stand and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. In this guide, Whissen, an English professor at Wright State University, explores the phenomenon of books that have captured the imagination of readers to such an extent that they have achieved the status of cult fiction. In a long introductory essay, he traces the history of cult works for more than 200 years, analyzing the common elements and themes in such novels as well as the cultural and psychological components that generate these works. Characterizing a cult book as one that "touches the nerve of its times with uncanny accuracy," Whissen identifies 50 titles that he considers to be the classics of cult fiction for treatment in separate essays. Although these classics range chronologically from Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) to Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979), more than half of them were published after 1960. The essays, arranged alphabetically by title and averaging five pages in length, offer lively analyses of each novel within the context of the period in which it was published, discuss the principal characters and themes, and frequently draw parallels to similar elements in other cult novels. Each essay concludes with a brief bibliography of critical sources on the work or the novelist. Additional features include a chronology of 83 major works of cult fiction, a list of the first and current editions of the 50 classics, and a brief, annotated bibliography of works for further reading. A three-page index includes references to major themes treated in the introduction and to the authors and titles of the books accorded separate essays. Cult movies have been the focus of a number of books, but this is the first work to study cult fiction to any extent. Although one might quibble with Whissen's choice of the "classics"--is Time and Again really more of a classic than Jonathan Livingston Seagull or Love Story?--he has created a unique and useful source. Since many of the novels treated in Classic Cult Fiction frequently appear on required reading lists in high schools and colleges, this will be an especially suitable purchase for those types of libraries as well as for public libraries.”–Reference Books Bulletin

“Highly recommended for all literary history and U.S. history collections.”–ARBA 93

“Highly recommended for all literary history and U.S. history collections”–ARBA

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press; annotated edition edition (March 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031326550X
• ISBN-13: 978-0313265501
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,660,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get out your reading list . . ., May 13, 2004

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Classic Cult Fiction: A Companion to Popular Cult Literature (Hardcover)

The author defines "cult" novels as those that speak "not only to the reader but for him" -- not a bad description. As a college student in the early 1960s, I was swept up (along with everyone else) by the cult authors of the day, especially Burgess, Tolkien, Heinlein, Kesey, Brautigan, and Vonnegut. (I managed to avoid Castenada and Hesse, I'm relieved to say. . . .) All of them are included among the fifty authors profiled and analyzed in this essay collection, though the author apparently whittled his original list down considerably. While I don't agree with all of his observations -- I think Hunter Thompson has long been vastly overrated, for instance -- he's so often right on the money, I found myself jotting down those titles I hadn't read in decades, plus a few I had missed entirely. For an avid reader who is always looking for other people's thoughtful suggestions of what to read, this is a first-rate volume.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Deal, June 27, 2011

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Skip - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Classic Cult Fiction: A Companion to Popular Cult Literature (Hardcover)

I bought this item because I like cult fiction. The price was very high when I went online to book companies. I went to Amazon and found out the book was over 100 dollars. I checked Amazon's associates and found the same book for under 5 dollars. I bought it immediately. Although used, it looked like new when I got it. Since then I have purchased over 30 books through Amazon. I am very happy with everything I have bought.