Curious:

[framlingem]

Why do some people title their books "Such-and-Such: A Novel"?

Seriously. If you have to tell me it's a novel, and I won't be able to figure out on my own that it is a fairly lengthy work of fiction, odds are it's either not very good, written for people who don't understand what a novel is, or really, really pretentious. In all cases, I admit that the 'A Novel' part is useful, as it warns me off. (I did actually buy a 'A Novel' book the other day, out of sheer curiosity and because I was desperate and it was a hardcover going for three bucks. It fell into the 'really, really pretentious' category. I plan to take it to the second-hand store and seeing if I can trade it in for some credit towards a beat-up paperback copy of a book that knows it's a novel without having to check its nametag.)

Is it so people can call themselves 'novelists' rather than 'authors'? Is it so I don't start reading it and write angry letters about how I was sucked into reading a five-pound book, thinking it was going to be a short story and would only take me ten minutes, and now I'm suing for the time I lost? Whoops! I mean, anyone could make that mistake, if not warned appropriately. If it's 'A Novel OF' something, that's at least useful. 'A Novel of Discworld', for instance - it lets me know it's a Discworld book, but probably won't deal too much with Ankh-Morpork or any of the main Disc characters.

*Has visions of boxes with 'Cheerios: A Cereal' written on them.*

I may have to put this up on my Life's Greatest Questions list, along with 'who on Earth thought 'Trojan' was a good name for a brand of condoms?' and 'why do my ten identical pairs of socks invariably become twenty odd socks in a matter of weeks?'

Comments

[tckma.livejournal.com]

A lawsuit for lost time would be a novel idea. ;)

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

*dies* You are so funny. :)

And there are definitely books I have read and wanted to sue for lost time for.

[avalonmissy.livejournal.com]

I've got a feeling it's probably an editor or publisher decision rather than the author. That being said, not sure why they do it. I have more than a few books that have "a novel" or "a novel by..." on the covers and are really quite good. Life of Pi, a couple Wayne Johnston books, and a John LeCarre for starters.

[aras-55555.livejournal.com]

I've wondered this myself. I suppose it comes from titles that might be misunderstood as something else, like 'The History of the World: A Novel' or 'Birds of North America: A Novel', and then it moved on to more ambiguous titles? It helps warn away people who aren't looking for fiction, but these days I think it's really mostly a stylistic affectation than anything else.

[mopeydick.livejournal.com]

It's good to know that "blahblah: a novel" is a pet peeve for someone else. And I actually have seen a few things here in the states that are labeled "Raisin D'Etre: A Cereal" or some such. What kills me is when it's something like "Vampire Mafiosi Bikini Sluts of Mars: A Novel." As though that would be a field guide.

Trojan as a brand name - I don't think it's the classical reference so much as it is the fact that a guy buying a box will automatically associate the word "horse."

[your-lifeis-now.livejournal.com]

I am glad that someone else has gazed at the Trojan box and pondered: Um.... Yeah. Okay, it's not like I when I am looking down at someone's *cough* manhood that I am thinking- *hands to face* "Oh dear, I didn't expect THAT I wonder what he is HIDING under there. Oh MY!"

Um.... Damn.

No.

[coreyfoster-esq.livejournal.com]

If they had Oscars for LJ entries, this one would be called Braveheart. Just warn me before you feel the need to fall headfirst into a liqour lunge and the anti-Semitic remarks start flying, hm?