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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It sounds funny because it states the obvious.
Alternatively, it sounds melodramatic because it states the obvious.
Alternatively, it sounds melodramatic because it states the obvious.
We are talking about stuff like "Thirteen Moons: A Novel", "The Host: A Novel", and "2666: A Novel", right?
It's to help people from confusing the book with a box of candies.
What. It could happen!
What. It could happen!
I can see the usefulness in cases like Gore Vidal's "Burr: A Novel" as perhaps either the author or publisher did not want someone not familiar with Vidal's work to think it a serious biography of Aaron Burr rather than a piece of historical fiction.
Other than that, it seems to be utterly pointless.
Other than that, it seems to be utterly pointless.
I think it's in some ways a relic from distinguishing "a novel" from "a romance".
If it's eighteenth century, it's a Novel because it is by a Lady.
Or a drunken Oxford undergrad, take your pick.
Or a drunken Oxford undergrad, take your pick.
Keeps people from mistaking it for a 300 page short story.
Keep people mistaking it for a pile of beets and inadvertantly eating it.
You have no idea how often this has happened to me.
You have no idea how often it's been a better use for the novel than reading it, too.
You have no idea how often it's been a better use for the novel than reading it, too.
It keeps people from wondering why this comic book has so many pages, and no pictures.
It helps, now that Amazon.com sells things like farm equipment and home security devices.
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.
Well, somebody might think it was true, otherwise...
Couldn't say. I, personally, would think that a person could easily tell if a work is "a novel" rather than "a collection", "a chapbook of modern verse", "a pop-up book", or any other such simply by thumbing through it...
"The Title I have chosen for this book is too short, and needs some ballast to weigh it down lest it float off into the Aether."
Yes! I couldn't have said it as well, but adding "A Novel" is a neat way of inserting a caesura.
It keeps it from being shelved/filed in the nonfiction sections?
As you know, Bob....
As you know, Bob....
Redundancy comes to mind. Again and again.
OK, sure, "...A Novel" is mostly an unnecessary thing to tack onto the title of a novel. But if the author or the publisher happen to think that it rounds out the name of the book in a euphonious fashion, why kick? When you get right down to it, the novel itself probably isn't all that necessary to the grand scheme of things.
Euphonia: a novel?
TSM_in_Toronto
TSM_in_Toronto
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.
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.
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.
Aha! I am totally writing that in Sharpie on my hollow book. Now no one will think to check there.
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
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.
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