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Rumpus Book ClubThe Window of Possessive Titles
One of the new window displays at Red Hill. My first contribution: the window of Possessive titles, a trend I can’t stop ranting about. Especially with novels. But still, an admirable array of authors employ this sure-fire titling method. I, myself, might try it some day.
Why are possessives so popular in novel titles? Why, for instance, are there so many books titled along the same lines as The Memory Keeper’s Daughter or The Bone-Setter’s Daughter? The Time-Traveller’s Wife or The Astronaut’s Wife? Flaubert’s Parrot, Correlli’s Mandolin, and Wittgenstein’s Poker?
I think one reason is that you can convey a sense of complexity in the possessive title, because already in just two or three words, there is a distinct relation already at play. With family members there is one person who stands in direct relation to another person who still remains altogether different. And thus with relation stated, difference too is set in motion. Two histories, two identities connected yet distinct, all of it given in a simple title with brings with it too the promise of war, conflict, legacy and inheritance: the stuff of the novel.
I’m not sure though if this logic accounts for the ubiquity of possessive titles out there. But it is a step perhaps in a more illuminating direction.
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:10 am
This trend has puzzled and annoyed me for years. I’ve wondered what subliminal effect it has on the psyche to see so many women defined by others in book titles–the possessives are largely geared toward women, or so I’ve seen. The Kitchen God’s Wife, Ahab’s Wife, all these wives and daughters, on and on.
Does make sense, though.