Cult Classic? (1 Viewer)

[klaris]

Cult Classics?

what is your definition?

i think a few of these books would rate as cult classics:

the catcher in the rye
american psycho
the virgin suicides
high fidelity
nineteen eighty four
a clockwork orange
the bell jar
catch 22
if on a winter's night a traveller
fear and loathing in las vegas
slaughter-house five

anything else i'm missing?

also, what do you think of the above books?

 

[Absolutezero]

Re: Cult Classics?

Day of The Triffids, and the Chrysalids, both by John Wyndham could possibly fit here.

 

[Luxxey]

Also, A Confederacy of Dunces.

It'd take me hours to come up with a definition I was happy with so I found this instead:

What is a cult book? We tried and failed to arrive at a definition: books often found in the pockets of murderers; books that you take very seriously when you are 17; books whose readers can be identified to all with the formula "<Author Name> whacko"; books our children just won’t get…

I laughed. It's true.

 

[sydchick]

on the road by jack kerouac
one flew over the cuckoo's nest by ken kesney

 

[brunx]

Re: Cult Classics?

what is your definition?

i think a few of these books would rate as cult classics:

the catcher in the rye
american psycho
the virgin suicides
high fidelity
nineteen eighty four
a clockwork orange
the bell jar
catch 22
if on a winter's night a traveller
fear and loathing in las vegas
slaughter-house five

anything else i'm missing?

also, what do you think of the above books?

really good books there, but id say some of them such as the catcher in the rye are too high selling and ingrained in mainstream culture to be considered 'cult' classics. depends on the definition i guess.

 

[brunx]

from wiki:
A cult film (also known as a cult movie/picture or a cult classic) is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans.[1] Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside of the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences. Many cult movies have gone on to transcend their original cult status and have become recognized as classics;


i know this is for film, but the same definition applies.
so i guess these books may have started off as cult classics, and then some such at the catcher in the rye have gone on to gain pure 'classic' status.

 

[kiniki]

lolita by vladimir nabokov.. but that's more a classic.

i'd even go as far as saying the decalogy 'the Mission Earth series' by R.L.Hubbard for any sci-fi fan... seriously changed my appreciation for other genres.

 

[kiniki]

haha i seriously just finished watching fear and loathing in las vegas for the first time about 5 minutes ago. such a hectic movie... my head feels very scattered right now tho

 

[yoddle]

I would add Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.
And possibly Fight Club, although that film was far more a cult classic than the book was.

 

[Taketheatrain]

Valley of the Dolls.

 

[kiniki]

children of men, the movie?

 

[x.christina]

to kill a mockingbird?

 

[sydchick]

hell yeah, xtina.

also probably In Cold Blood by Capote?

idk, that may be more of a classic.

 

[Gmac_0]

I wouldn't say that some of these books are cult classics, really. Some of them are extremely well known, highly thought after, and quite mainstream. The catcher in the rye, 1984, a clockwork orange - all very well known. American Psycho is more of a cult book, the film even more so, it has a rather narrow base that love it and seem to quote it endlessly.

 

[klaris]

bump

fight club by palahniuk

 

[Cianyx]

I wouldn't say that some of these books are cult classics, really. Some of them are extremely well known, highly thought after, and quite mainstream. The catcher in the rye, 1984, a clockwork orange - all very well known. American Psycho is more of a cult book, the film even more so, it has a rather narrow base that love it and seem to quote it endlessly.

American Psycho is quite popular as well but I digress. I reckon books or movies with a previous cult following (agreed with Catcher in the Rye though) can still be considered a cult classic as it did have a cult following at one point.

House of Leaves would be my suggestion to the topic

 

[Tulipa]

Seems like The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one for the teenagers of the '00s. Haven't read it, no desire to but I know a lot of people who have pretty much only read that and the Virgin Suicides