February 08, 2005

category seven novels and cult classics

So if you've been following the off-again on-again discussion on what goes into a novel that is successful both commercially and critically, you'll remember about category seven. The Holy Grail of novels. The novel the critics fall over each other to adore, but at the same time it's got such a great story, so well told, such compelling characters, that it sells like the proverbial hotcakes.

If you're new to the topic, you may want to catch up. Or maybe not.

Now, people have been suggesting names of novels that they believe fit into category seven, and after thinking about some of those titles for a while, I've come to a conclusion. I have to set up a subcategory, or a different category all together. Because just as there are cult films, there are cult books, some of which may be category seven novels, but most of which are not. Here are the cult books I could come up with in a few minutes:

I would argue that Gone with the Wind belongs in this category as well -- but I'm going to leave that for a moment, or the GwtW love squad will surely be after me again. Now, I have to say also that there are books that aren't quite category seven but may be cult books in the making, which brings me to my next point. Here are titles that have been suggested as Category Seven novels:

To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee
Birdsong | Sebastian Faulks
Regeneration | Pat Barker
Fly Away Peter | David Malouf
The Lovely Bones | Alice Sebold
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mark Haddon
The Name of the Rose | Umberto Eco
Possession | A. S. Byatt
Cold Mountain | Charles Frasier
Ender’s Game | Orson Scott Card
Outlander | Diana Gabaldon
Flowers from the Storm | Laura Kinsale
The Time Traveler's Wife | Audrey Niffenegger
Cloud of Sparrows | Matsuoka Takashi

Of course, this whole process is highly subjective and thus ripe for disagreement and discussion. I personally wouldn't put most of these novels into category seven, for one reason or another. In some cases, simply because they miss out in critical success category -- for no fault of their own. Flowers from the Storm, for example, which I personally consider one of the five top romance novels ever written, isn't category seven simply because it is a romance, and as such falls below the radar of the critics. Right? Fair? No. I'm just observing, here.

However, there are many cult classics in the romance genre, and Flowers from the Storm is definitely one of those. In fact, if you think about it -- a cult classic is what it is precisely because it has been ignored (for the most part) or rejected (less often) by the literati, and it has been raised to its high status by the readers. I personally would far prefer to be able to say, at the end of my life, that one of my books had ended up a cult classic, because then people would still be reading it. That's worth a lot more than a couple weeks in the top five at the NYT. In my estimation. By the way, I would put Outlander in the cult classic category along with Flowers from the Storm, but I happen to know that Diana dislikes being classified as a romance writer.

I have this sense that this little experiment of mine hasn't been very useful to anybody but myself. At least I've succeeded in clarifying my own thinking on what makes a particular novel work -- for the readers, for the critics -- for the moment.

February 8, 2005 02:31 PM

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So after scanning back through the entries on category seven novels, I didn't see a list. Since you describe cult novels today, I'd be interested in knowing whether there are any novels that you still think are category seven beside "To Kill a Mockingbird"...

Posted by: Catherine at February 9, 2005 09:48 AM

People posted their candidates for Category Seven in the comments section... most of the ones on the list were not my suggestions; some of those do seem to be to be Category Seven novels.

The Name of the Rose, for example. Highest critical praise and commercial success both. Possibly Possession, although I'm not sure about sales on that one. Cold Mountain almost certainly. I'm still thinking about other candidates.

Posted by: sara at February 11, 2005 02:31 PM

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell might be a Category Seven novel, or it might be a cult classic (I think it's usually shelved in science fiction). It's the one book I recommend to everyone.

Posted by: Anamaria at February 13, 2005 05:09 PM

Yes, the Sparrow is excellent. I'm not sure that it would be a Category 7 novel because I'm not sure how much of a "critical success" it was (at least outside the sci-fi fiction circle)... guess this also illustrates a point you have made elsewhere, Sara, genre fiction is usually not considered "serious" fiction. I think Sci-Fi (as well as romance but maybe not quite as much) gets sidelined very much as genre fiction rather than "serious fiction" (whatever the frell that is). "the Sparrow" is an amazing story so you might want to add that to your list of books to read, if you haven't already.

I think also that this sidelining of genre stories also spills over into film and TV .... but we know where this argument is heading so I'll just leave it there.

Posted by: Jacqui at February 14, 2005 02:48 AM

category seven novels and cult classics

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