james_davis_nicoll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2008-12-18 12:00 pm
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2008-12-18 12:00 pm
I have wondered this for a while
What's the point of the subtitle "a novel"?
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So it won't accidentally be put on the non-fiction shelves?
Surely there's some fun to be had with that convention. "The Holy Bible: A Novel", "Lose 10 Pounds in One Month: A Novel", "Introduction to C++: A Novel", ...
Surely there's some fun to be had with that convention. "The Holy Bible: A Novel", "Lose 10 Pounds in One Month: A Novel", "Introduction to C++: A Novel", ...
It's a market signal -- it tells people that the book is upmarket or elevated.
You can see this by the defensiveness in the other comments to this post.
You can see this by the defensiveness in the other comments to this post.
Presumably to keep it from being mistaken for biography, history, or memoir (or other less-likely sorts of nonfiction).
Although I like that "Chosen title is too short; needs ballast" idea too.
Although I like that "Chosen title is too short; needs ballast" idea too.
I cannot offer a definitive answer to your question, but you never have the "a novel" subtitle on eldritch tomes, or those books that have a hollow interior for keeping guns or booze inside them.
Well, last week I was reading a novel called Eleanor vs. Ike, about a Presidential race between Eleanor Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and had someone comment that it was good to see people reading non-fiction.
It's so those Yip Yip guys on Sesame Street know how to distinguish it from a radio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qxWGr8VhzQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qxWGr8VhzQ
Like James, I have also wondered. One hypothesis was maybe it marked standalone novels from a series, but I think that didn't hold up.
It's a market signal -- it tells people that the book is upmarket or elevated.
You know, I think it actually works like that on me. For some reason, I kind of like it, and you might have identified the reason.
I guess it would be interesting to get a nice big list of examples. I could see something like Byatt's Possession being marketed this way. I'm not so sure about Butler's The Fledgling, but I guess it could be at work there, too.
It's a market signal -- it tells people that the book is upmarket or elevated.
You know, I think it actually works like that on me. For some reason, I kind of like it, and you might have identified the reason.
I guess it would be interesting to get a nice big list of examples. I could see something like Byatt's Possession being marketed this way. I'm not so sure about Butler's The Fledgling, but I guess it could be at work there, too.
Believe it or not, some people have trouble with the distinction between "fiction" and "non-fiction". "I don't want 'non-fiction.' I want something real. Because 'non' means 'no'. So 'fiction' is the true stuff, and 'non-fiction' is made up, right?" Librarians run into this way of thinking a lot when trying to explain things like call numbers to patrons.
"Novel" clarifies it a bit. Most of them know a "novel" is a made-up story and not true. It is a little jarring in a lot science fiction though, especially far-future stuff with space travel and such.
"Novel" clarifies it a bit. Most of them know a "novel" is a made-up story and not true. It is a little jarring in a lot science fiction though, especially far-future stuff with space travel and such.
signaling to the reader...
a) this book is too pretentious for the likes of you
b) ... not a genre novel
c) this book was accidentally shelved in self help
d) all of the above
a) this book is too pretentious for the likes of you
b) ... not a genre novel
c) this book was accidentally shelved in self help
d) all of the above
So you know it's not 'a same'.
Or a bus. Or a salmon.
Or a bus. Or a salmon.
Aha! I am totally writing that in Sharpie on my hollow book. Now no one will think to check there.
Possession (I'm reading it at the moment) is "a romance". Which it is, in any meaning of the word you care to mention.
I imagine that back in the days when it was common (indeed, customary) for novels to be built on the conceit of being collections of found correspondence, or autobiographies, the subtitle was extremely helpful to the casual browser. (In one of the Emily books, there's a bit where Emily reads The History of Henry Esmond despite being forbidden to read novels because her Aunt Ruth is fooled by the word "history" in the title.)
Even these days, novels often have titles that are enormously misleading; A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, for instance.
Even these days, novels often have titles that are enormously misleading; A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, for instance.
They have several card games listed as 'books,' too. Mass market paperback, no less.
Bone Wars is the first I noticed it with, but everything from that publisher is 'A Book' according to the amazon database, and it's probably done the same thing to other games too.
Bone Wars is the first I noticed it with, but everything from that publisher is 'A Book' according to the amazon database, and it's probably done the same thing to other games too.
Reading or re-reading? I would have thought you'd already read it.
I checked on amazon.com for the cover images, and you're right about Possession, and I remembered correctly for The Fledgling.
I think my failure to remember for Possession shows that for me both subtitles serve the same purpose.
I checked on amazon.com for the cover images, and you're right about Possession, and I remembered correctly for The Fledgling.
I think my failure to remember for Possession shows that for me both subtitles serve the same purpose.
I think it's primarily a quick and easy guide for bookstore employees who need to know if a book is fiction or non-fiction for shelving purposes, without having to to stop and read the DJ flap. Especially convenient for authors such as Richard Clarke or Newt Gingrich, who have written both fiction and non-fiction.
In the case of Dave Barry's novels, it served as a warning that they were significantly different fare than Dave Barry fans might normally have expected from him, given his publishing record.
At one point Harcourt, Brace put "A Novel" on Stanisław Lem's early mainstream novelHospital of the Transfiguration, but not on his SF. So it may signal "not genre". Note that a lot of Lem's SF is pretty upmarket and elevated to begin with, as SF goes--but it still gets shelved in SF. Then again, so does Hospital of the Transfiguration even though it is not SF.
See, it's books like that one that cause people like me confusion when there isn't something on the cover to indicate that a book is or is not fiction. I can't remember the number of times I've seen some display of books in a store, and picked one up only to wonder is this fiction? If it doesn't say "novel" somewhere prominent I usually conclude that the book is in fact non-fiction.
It distinguishes it from "an ordinary".
Euphonia: a novel?
TSM_in_Toronto
TSM_in_Toronto
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