Characters and Topical Diversity: Characters and Topical Diversity

Abstract | Abstract

The purpose of this article is to contribute to our understanding of the difference between the bestseller and the non-bestseller in nonfiction. It is noticed that many bestsellers in nonfiction belongs to the sub-genre of creative nonfiction, but also that the topics in this kind of literature is largely ignored by the critics. Thus, the article tests how topics may work in creative nonfiction. Two Danish bestsellers belonging to the genre, Frank’s Mit smukke genom (My Beautiful Genome), about genomics, and Buk-Swienty’s Slagtebænk Dybbøl ( ‘Slaughter-bench Dybbøl’), a history book, are chosen as cases and analysed using a slightly modified motif model by Johansen. The result is that in both books the main topic is treated from a double perspective, but also that six out of seven secondary topics, or motifs, are treated as well. It is concluded that also in a topical sense creative nonfiction may span traits from nonfiction and fiction, and that this may contribute to our understanding between the bestseller and the non-bestseller in nonfiction.