The Future of Jeff Bezos, Part 2

Well, there is a part 1, which you'd think would mean I have more to say on the subject (and his new toy). Actually, though, this post will have little to do with the Kindle. I plan to use a comment by Steven Levy, author of "The Future of Reading" article in Newsweek, as a jumping-off point.

And I quote.

...literary critics are bemoaning a possible demise of print culture, and Norman Mailer's recent death underlined the dearth of novelists who cast giant shadows.

Had I been sipping a cup of coffee as I read these words, page 57 would now have a big brown stain on it -- the result of a sputter of disbelief.

It's not Mailer the novelist, or even Mailer the writer, who darkened the landscape; it's Mailer the egoist. Even when I was in the college in the late 60s and early 70s, people spent much more time talking about Mailer than they did reading his books. His obiturary in the New York Times provides an instructive summary of his tumultous, multi-faceted, me-centered career.

Two weeks ago, I provided an overview of the circulation activity of the complete fictional works of the late Ira Levin. Let's now take a look at some selected Mailer titles.

The Naked and the Dead (original publication 1948)
Copies in LINK: 10
Years of ownership: 120
Circulation: 262
Turnover rate: 2.183 (Translation: Each copy was checked out an average of twice a year.)

The Barbary Shore (1951)
Copies in LINK: 3
Years of ownership: 27
Circulation: 34
Turnover rate: 1.259

The Deer Park (1955)
Copies in LINK: 3
Years of ownership: 39
Circulation: 110
Turnover rate: 2.821

An American Dream (1965)
Copies in LINK: 5
Years of ownership: 65
Circulation: 132
Turnover rate: 2.031

The Executioner's Song (1979)
Copies in LINK: 20
Years of ownership: 224
Circulation: 361
Turnover rate: 1.612

Ancient Evenings (1983)
Copies in LINK: 20
Years of ownership: 227
Circulation: 201
Turnover rate: 0.885

Tough Guys Don't Dance (1984)
Copies in LINK: 23
Years of ownership: 253
Circulation: 506
Turnover rate: 2.000

In other words, Mailer's books spend, on average, 10 months collecting dust on library shelves and two months collecting dust elsewhere.

What about bookstores?

On a November 28th visit to Border's, I counted 9 different Mailer titles, a few with multiple copies, taking up a mere 14 inches of shelf space. The books by Jane Austen, on the other hand, occupied two full shelves, or 72 inches. (Somehow it's poetic justice comparing Mailer to a woman using a measurement of inches.) Even Sidney Sheldon, who died in January of this year, has a 22-inch shelf span. And what about those other manly literary shadow casters, Philip Roth and John Updike? 54" and 36", respectively. (At least they had all the Rabbit books in stock.)

For comparison purposes, I visited Barnes & Noble on November 30th. Thanks to the presence of 9 copies of Harlot's Ghost (1991), Mailer measured up to Sidney Sheldon's standard. Curiously, The Other Side of Midnight man is absent from B&N's shelves. (Schlock readers, take heart; there's three copies of Valley of the Dolls awaiting your guilty pleasure.) Once again, Jane Austen kicks Mailer's butt bigtime -- three full shelves extending to 118 inches. I lost count but I'd guess there's at least 50 copies of Pride and Prejudice in various editions.