Jack, what is your take on popular novels that become a classic or "best-selling" and people really recommend them all the time, but while you read them, they have just droned on about a popular topic? The ones which garner some serious fan following...

Jack Page I believe those novels get one very tricky thing right, namely to hit a nerve of the particular time. They represent a particular genre or zeitgeist more than any other book and become the go-to example. They must not necessarily be the best novel in that genre, but they are the first to capture a social desire or fear. Just take a look at Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which spoke to so many people because it reflected their concern about scientific progress. In this regard I see them primarily as a cultural artefact.

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