Better dead: J. M. Barrie’s first book and the shilling fiction market

Nash, A. (2015) Better dead: J. M. Barrie’s first book and the shilling fiction market. Scottish Literary Review, 7 (1). pp. 19-41. ISSN 1756-5634

Abstract/Summary

This article provides a critical and bibliographical discussion of J. M. Barrie’s neglected first book, Better Dead, published by Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co. in 1887. Drawing on previously unexamined evidence in the Sonnenschein archive, it shows how this shilling novel was marketed and sold to its readers at railway bookstalls, and argues that the content and style of the story was conditioned by its form. Examining the many references and allusions in the story, it proposes that the work is best understood as a satire on contemporary political, social and literary themes. The article also shows how, contrary to all published accounts, the author actually earned a small amount of money from a work which, in spite of his efforts, refused to stay dead.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/40339
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > English Literature
Uncontrolled Keywords	J. M. Barrie, earnings, income, profit, Swan Sonnenschein, shilling novel, shilling fiction, shilling shocker, satire, humor, humour, railway books, railway bookstalls, railway booksellers
Publisher	Association for Scottish Literary Studies
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