Issue Details: First known date: 2012... 2012 Two Centuries of Popular Australian Fiction
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Who is Guy Boothby that Miles Franklin should be advised to 'write like' him, and Rudyard Kipling admire him? Guy Boothby is one of the many best selling Australian authors who is largely forgotten or ignored by literary scholars. Boothby's fiction sold in the millions, he received praise and accolades from their peers but who have largely been overlooked in scholarly accounts of the Australian literature. They suffered from the terminal literary disease, popularity. For reasons unknown popularity is positively correlated with 'trash' and therefore summarily dismissed. This chapter documents one hundred years of Australian popular fiction in an effort to inspire further research and to incite more scholars to consider the merits of genre authors whose material languishes as their sales grow.' (Author's introduction 1)

Notes

  • Epigraph: Oh! how I hate the very sound of business & when one advises me on one side to write like Guy Boothby [...] (Franklin in a letter to Henry Lawson, n.d.)

    My Guy Boothby as come to great honours now. His name is large upon hoardings, his books sell like hot cakes, and he keeps a level head through it all. I've met him several times in England, and he added to my already large respect for him. (Kipling qtd. in Lock, Dr Kickola: 1906)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Sold by the Millions : Australia's Bestsellers Toni Johnson-Woods (editor), Amit Sarwal (editor), Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Press , 2012 Z1843701 2012 anthology criticism 'Australian genre fiction writers have successfully exploited the Australian landscape and peoples and as a result their books are today "sold by the millions" across boundaries. They have created stories that are imaginative, visionary, and diverse. They appeal to local and international readerships and, most importantly, are thoroughly entertaining, thus making them a strong presence in the popular fiction bazaar.
    Sold by the Millions: Australia's Bestsellers is the first collection to concentrate on Australia's best-selling material that forms the armchair reading of many Australians. Leading experts of popular fiction provide introspective pieces on Romance, Horror, Crime, Science Fiction, Western, Comics, Travel, Sports and Children's writing so that a wholesome picture emerges of the wide range of reading and research options available for scholars' (Publisher website).
    Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Press , 2012
    pg. 1-21
Last amended 2 Jul 2012 15:13:13
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