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The Heyday of the Popular Story Weekly provides an historical romp for journalists and students of American literature, or of advertising for that matter. The birth and the flowering of the weekly family story papers brought popular literature to the Victorian millions as they liked it -- burdened with sweetness and violence. From the 1830's papers began their climb, cribbing as they went, with bigness their advertised virtue. By the 1850's, the first fiction hacks had appeared and were boosted by such men as Bonner, the great showman and owner of the New York Ledger. The comic advertising schemes, the battles of rival papers to outdo each other with alliteratively named authors and engrossing serials are a large part of the story. Mrs. Southworth, story queen; Sylvanus Cobb, the story paper story ideal who wrote ""decently sensational"" serials and squibs; firm Fanny Fern who despite the primness of the period praised Walt Whitman; Horatio Alger and dozens of other authors are recalled. We are treated to some lurid purple prose in a work historical in tone but light of heart, nevertheless for a somewhat specialized market. ~ Kirkus
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The Heyday of the Popular Story Weekly provides an historical romp for journalists and students of American literature, or of advertising for that matter. The birth and the flowering of the weekly family story papers brought popular literature to the Victorian millions as they liked it -- burdened with sweetness and violence. From the 1830's papers began their climb, cribbing as they went, with bigness their advertised virtue. By the 1850's, the first fiction hacks had appeared and were boosted by such men as Bonner, the great showman and owner of the New York Ledger. The comic advertising schemes, the battles of rival papers to outdo each other with alliteratively named authors and engrossing serials are a large part of the story. Mrs. Southworth, story queen; Sylvanus Cobb, the story paper story ideal who wrote ""decently sensational"" serials and squibs; firm Fanny Fern who despite the primness of the period praised Walt Whitman; Horatio Alger and dozens of other authors are recalled. We are treated to some lurid purple prose in a work historical in tone but light of heart, nevertheless for a somewhat specialized market. ~ Kirkus
Reviews