Potboiler
Encyclopedia
Potboiler or pot-boiler is a term used to describe a poor quality novel, play, opera, or film, or other creative work that was created quickly to make money
to pay for the creator's daily expenses (thus the imagery of "boil the pot", which means "to provide one's livelihood"). Authors who create potboiler novels or screenplays are sometimes called hack writer
s. Novels deemed to be potboilers may also be called pulp fiction, and potboiler films may be called "popcorn movies."
Lewis Carroll
, in a letter to illustrator A. B. Frost
in 1880, remarks that Frost should spend his advance pay from his work on Rhyme? & Reason? lest he be forced to "do a 'pot-boiler' for some magazine," to make ends meet. In an early-1980s Time
review of a book by Andrew Greeley
, the author called his novel Thy Brother's Wife a "...putrid, puerile, prurient, pulpy potboiler."
In the late 1990s, American author and newspaper reporter Stephen Kinzer
referred to potboilers in this derogatory sense: "If reading and travel are two of life's most rewarding experiences, to combine them is heavenly. I don't mean sitting on a beach reading the latest potboiler, a fine form of relaxation but not exactly mind-expanding."
A definition of potboiler fiction from the 2000s captures the sense that it is an inferior grade of writing; in a Publishers Weekly article, author David Schow called potboilers fiction that "... stacks bricks of plot into a nice, neat line."
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
to pay for the creator's daily expenses (thus the imagery of "boil the pot", which means "to provide one's livelihood"). Authors who create potboiler novels or screenplays are sometimes called hack writer
Hack writer
Hack writer is a colloquial and usually pejorative term used to refer to a writer who is paid to write low-quality, rushed articles or books "to order", often with a short deadline. In a fiction-writing context, the term is used to describe writers who are paid to churn out sensational,...
s. Novels deemed to be potboilers may also be called pulp fiction, and potboiler films may be called "popcorn movies."
High culture
"In the more elevated arenas of artistry such a motive...was considered deeply demeaning." If a serious playwright or novelist's creation is called a potboiler, this has a negative connotation that suggests that it is a mediocre or inferior-quality work. An early usage of the term that has this sense is in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine of New York, dated 1854: “He has not carelessly dashed off his picture, with the remark that ‘it will do for a pot-boiler’”. Similarly, Jane Scovell's Living in the Shadows states that "...the play was a mixed blessing. Through it O'Neill latched on to a perennial source of income, but the promise of his youth was essentially squandered on a potboiler."Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
, in a letter to illustrator A. B. Frost
A. B. Frost
Arthur Burdett Frost , was an early American illustrator, graphic artist and comics writer. He was also well known as a painter. Frost's work is well known for its dynamic representation of motion and sequence. Frost is considered one of the great illustrators in the "Golden Age of American...
in 1880, remarks that Frost should spend his advance pay from his work on Rhyme? & Reason? lest he be forced to "do a 'pot-boiler' for some magazine," to make ends meet. In an early-1980s Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
review of a book by Andrew Greeley
Andrew Greeley
Father Andrew M. Greeley is an Irish-American Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist and fiction writer....
, the author called his novel Thy Brother's Wife a "...putrid, puerile, prurient, pulpy potboiler."
In the late 1990s, American author and newspaper reporter Stephen Kinzer
Stephen Kinzer
Stephen Kinzer is a United States author and newspaper reporter. He is a veteran New York Times correspondent who has reported from more than fifty countries on five continents. During the 1980s he covered revolution and social upheaval in Central America...
referred to potboilers in this derogatory sense: "If reading and travel are two of life's most rewarding experiences, to combine them is heavenly. I don't mean sitting on a beach reading the latest potboiler, a fine form of relaxation but not exactly mind-expanding."
A definition of potboiler fiction from the 2000s captures the sense that it is an inferior grade of writing; in a Publishers Weekly article, author David Schow called potboilers fiction that "... stacks bricks of plot into a nice, neat line."