Culting fictions: An enquiry into cult writers and their readerships

This is an examination of the phenomenon of cult fiction. Starting with the Romantic poets this thesis shows that our understanding of contemporary cult fiction (from the 1960s to the late 1990s) is inextricably bound up with the failure of literary radicalism, a point I support through studies of Allen Ginsberg and Irvine Welsh. I will examine the factors that separate cult reading strategies from more conventional modes of interpretation, and by doing so I will analyse current opinions and recent research carried out in the area. Once I have established a framework for determining what makes a cult book I will bring it to the study of Douglas Coupland's Generation X (1991) and Don DeLillo's Mao II (1992). In doing so I will highlight the dangers and extremes of cult interpretation, which will be followed by an in-depth look at Mark Chapman, who shot dead singer John Lennon in 1980, and in particular his reading of JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951)