The desire to categorize and publish reliable information on American bestsellers has been around for more than a century, beginning in the mid-1890s with the work of “The Bookman." This program will offer a brief history of bestsellers as a category--what do we mean when we say something is a bestseller?--then trace the shifting landscape of the literary marketplace over the past century-plus. The meaning of “bestsellers” is not as self-evident as it might seem, especially when we look at the realm of literary fiction. This talk will help attendees leave with a better understanding of the long and vexed relationship between bestsellers and so-called literary fiction and the major genres into which bestsellers have divided themselves (westerns, mysteries, thrillers, romances, fantasy, horror, and more), and take a deep dive into several novels that exemplify this complicated relationship.
Peter Conn retired from the University of Pennsylvania as Vartan Gregorian Professor of English and Professor of Education. He was a member of graduate groups in the history of art and American Civilization, a member of the Urban Studies and Asian-American studies faculties, and an affiliated member of the Center for East Asian Studies. His book Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography, received a number of accolades: It was chosen as a “New York Times Notable Book," listed among the best 25 books of 1996 by Publishers Weekly, named one the best books of the year by “Library Journal”, included among the five finalists for the Nation Book Critics Circle award in biography, and received the Athenaeum award. His latest book, “Thomas Sully’s Philadelphians: Painting the Athens of America”, will be published by the American Philosophical Society Press in 2025. Dr. Conn’s complete biography can be found on the University of Pennsylvania Department of English web page.
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