The Ulysses Delusion

"This book asks how avid readers and literary professionals have come to assess novels so differently. Why are the most read novels seldom reviewed, the most celebrated novels often unpopular? Examining the US novel's lively history, "America, We Have Your Novel" provokes conversations that affirm the democratic roots of our reading nation"-- "Popular fiction follows literature professors wherever they go. At coffee shops or out for drinks, after faculty meetings or classes, even at family reunions - they are persistently pressed to talk about bestselling novels. Questions immediately follow: What do I mean when I say a book is "good"? Why do contemporary novels like these, conversations like these, matter to professors of literature? Shouldn't they be spending their time re-reading The Great Gatsby? The Ulysses Delusion confronts these questions and answers their call for more engaged conversations about books. Through topics like the Oprah's Book Club, Harry Potter, and Chick Lit, Cecilia Konchar Farr explores the lively, democratic, and gendered history of novels in the US as a context for understanding how avid readers and literary professionals have come to assess them so differently"--