Classic Cult Fiction: A Companion to Popular Cult Literature

(Hardback)

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"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 200 years. Though "canon formation" is an awesome prospect, sure to lead to challenges by scholars and readers alike, author Thomas Whissen identifies his top 50 classic cult books, first presenting an informed 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 50 individual works are each discussed relative to time and place, impact, and audience psychology and analyzed in terms of common cult attributes. A chronolgical listing of cult fiction adds a number of titles not chosen for the top fifty. This literary companion argues the case for cult fiction as a distinct genre and offers 50 fresh and thought provoking essays to back up the contention.

Reviews

"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 93
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 worksof 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
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
"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 worksof 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

Author Bio

THOMAS REED WHISSEN is Professor of English at Wright State University. Among his academic interests are the topics of decadence in literature, cult literature, and writing and editing. His most recent books reflect these interests, including A Way with Words and The Devil's Advocates: Decadence in Modern Literature (Greenwood Press, 1989). His own way with words has led him into fiction, poetry, and lyrics as well as scholarship, and he is presently developing a study tentatively titled Wretched Writing and Why It Works.