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Getting On : Literature Reviews

Misery vs escapism

from Latest News - Friday, December 12, 2008
accessed 238 times

Interesting article regarding "misery" vs "escapism"...


Declining genre spells gloom for publishers

by Alison Flood The Guardian, Tuesday 2 December 2008

Publishers of "misery lit" will have been relieved at yesterday's outcome. But the truth is that all is not well in a genre which has boomed beyond all expectations since Dave Pelzer wrote A Child Called It in 1995. Sales of misery memoirs - marketed under the more upbeat label of "inspirational" memoirs - have declined this year, with the top 30 titles down nearly 35% on last year, according to Nielsen BookScan.

Last year's bestseller, Don't Tell Mummy, sold more than 300,000 copies over the year, while this year's, Not Without My Sister, is just topping 152,000, according to the Bookseller.

The slew of legal cases means publishers are changing people and place names to make the stories as unidentifiable as possible.

"These things are generally so libellous, because you're talking about abuse. We tend to change the names," said publisher John Blake.

"It's a very fraught area because it's quite subjective." Blake pulled out of the market six months ago after judging it to be saturated. "I think the public quite likes them but even the most miserable person in the world has got too many now."

Carole Tonkinson, a publisher at misery memoir powerhouse HarperCollins, says they are "cutting back a bit". She said: "There was a lot of over-publishing and there have been a lot of problems legally with some of them."

Misery memoirs earned the books industry more than £10m last year, according to the Bookseller, but are largely looked down on by the trade.

Neill Denny, editor-in-chief of the Bookseller, says: "Maybe we've reached a saturation point.

"I think misery is not what people want to read about in a recession, they want escapist books."

Reader's comments on this article

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from Samuel
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 15:35

Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5(Agree/Disagree?)
Wow!  And I thought Larry King did a bad job with his show on The Family.  Did this reporter even bother to read the book?
(reply to this comment)
from interesting, because
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 12:07

Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5(Agree/Disagree?)
NWMS is neither misery or escapism.

misery? NO, it is a true expose, informative, thoughtful and triumphant, offering hope. (i guess you could say it will cause misery to the perverted bastards who abuse children who's game is up)

escapism? NO, it deals with reality ( waking people up. )

what a lame reporter!





(reply to this comment)
From Sure, to us it is but
Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 06:20

Average visitor agreement is 1 out of 5(
Agree/Disagree?)
to other people with normal lives it's just a freak show. (reply to this comment
From Samuel
Thursday, December 18, 2008, 04:13

Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5Average visitor agreement is 5 out of 5(Agree/Disagree?)

Hey, speak for yourself.  Losers would see NWMS as a freak show.  To others, I think it can be very helpful as an encouragement that no matter what has happened in your life, there are three women who went through something similar, and were escape from it and make something of their lives.  As long as there is a will, there is hope.(reply to this comment

from rainy
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 04:11

(Agree/Disagree?)
That's why when I write my story it's going to be funny. Morbidly funny perhaps, but funny nonetheless.
(reply to this comment)
From Phoenixkidd
Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 09:21

(Agree/Disagree?)

Good Idea Rainy, I found my memories to be so bizzarre they are almost laughable, I think that would appeal to a lot of people, I wish there were more auto biographies or memoirs on the ubsurdity of religious aspects while in a cult setting.

 (reply to this comment

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