Al,
Re your comment below:
"What's perhaps more remarkable than the big sales of
'I, The Jury' is that fact that seven of Spillane's novels
are listed as selling over 5,000, 000 copies."
In the '50's, of the ten best-selling novels ever publsihed
(at least since records had been kept), seven were by
Spillane. He'd only written seven novels by that time.
At some literary gathering, one incensed intellectual
couldn't resist commenting to Spillane about how this success
was proof of the debased standards of the Great
Unwashed.
"What a terrible comment on the tastes of the general
public," he said, "that of the the ten best-selling novels
ever published, seven were written by you."
"Just be glad I didn't write three more," Spillane
retorted.
As for the Corelli factor, Spillane already HAS lasted. I THE
JURY was written more than six decades ago, and is still in
print.
A few weeks after his death, his widow got a royalty check
from Germany for $50,000. I think it was for MY GUN IS QUICK.
A $50,000 royalty, from one country, for a book that's over a
half-century old. How many of us would feel we'd been major
successes if we got only half that, from the whole damned
world, and never a cent more, for something we'd just
written.
You may not like him, but nobody stays on top that long
without having something on the ball.
JIM DOHERTY
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