Middlebrow Fiction

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that 'middlebrow fiction' doesn't really exist. Rather, the meanings attached to it and the way it is promoted, are marketing tools. The paper notes that books that combine qualities of both lowbrow and highbrow literature, whilst providing an opportunity for private escapism and social interaction, are extremely popular. The paper then suggests that the books that are published are shaped too much by consumer 'needs' and that the publishing industry has found a formula that works, as well as an effective way to market the result, making it reluctant to deviate from the process. The paper also contends that the publishing industry simultaneously creates and fulfills the desire for middlebrow fiction and that, instead of publishing new ideas and new types of fiction, publishers stick with what will definitely sell. The paper concludes that middlebrow fiction is not 'a marketing department's invention', but something driven by money, rather than culture.

From the Paper:

"The same method of marketing middlebrow fiction at anxious would-be consumers is still used today. There are many schemes that operate in a similar way to the 'Book-of-the-Month Club'; for example, The Times has recently started offering a novel for one pound with the purchase of the newspaper. The purpose, of course, is to sell more newspapers rather than to sell more books, but the result remains the same. The Times attaches a meaning to the books, simply with the implication that an intelligent, and therefore impressive, newspaper would give away intelligent, and therefore impressive, books. And it is this meaning, originating with the newspaper, that also ends with the newspaper being more desirable because it comes with a desirable book. Indeed, this marketing trend has been so effective that the same pattern is often reproduced amongst consumers, for example, in reading groups. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Frazier, Charles, Cold Mountain (London: Sceptre, 1997)
• Harris, Joanne, Chocolat (London: Black Swan, 2000)
• Hartley, Jenny, Reading Groups (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001)
• Radway, Janice A., A Feeling for Books: the Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Taste, and Middle-Class Desire (Chapel Hill: University of North California Press, 1997)
• Winfrey, Oprah, 'Why Oprah chose The Good Earth' video clip available online at http://www.oprah.com/video/200412/obc/obc_clip_20041202_6_wmp.jhtml, accessed on 26 April 2006

More papers on Middlebrow Fiction:

• Comparison Essay # 124494 : "Fiction vs. Non-Fiction"
• Analytical Essay # 130332 : "Literary Fiction and Commercial Fiction"
• Analytical Essay # 6205 : "The Elements of Fiction"

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