Models for the multitudes : social values in the American popular novel, 1850-1920
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Models for the multitudes : social values in the American popular novel, 1850-1920
(Contributions to the study of childhood and youth, no. 3)
Greenwood Press, 1987
- : lib. bdg.,alk. paper
Available at 18 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. [169]-171
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This provocative study was developed to uncover the thought processes of the best-selling authors from 1850 to 1920 concerning the subject of success. Based on the conviction that the reading of novels strongly influences social values and behavioral expectations, a number of key discoveries are presented regarding character behavior and gender, the variations between the work of female and male writers, the similarity of social values employed by widely diverse novelists, and the emergence of three distinct time periods related to alterations in gender expectations. The book points out the basic assumptions held by popular novelists, notes the parameters of human conduct approved by them for their characters, and identifies the ideas seen by them as necessary to their work. Kelley contends that the coherent pattern of social values uncovered through the use of content analysis suggests that the first mass audience, that is, the purchasers of best-sellers, demanded a consensus of ideas in any works that were to sell well, and that these can be seen as models for the multitudes.
Table of Contents
- Tables Acknowledgments Introduction In Search of Success Models Gender Differences: Characters The Standardized Model Gender Differences: Authors Time Differences A Final Evaluation Appendixes: Mott's List Revised
- The Male Questionnaire
- The Female Questionnaire
- Why Some Novels Were Omitted Bibliography Index
by "Nielsen BookData"