The Eyes of the World (novel)

Last updated
The Eyes of the World - 1914 novel dust jacket - Harold Bell Wright.jpg
Dust jacket
Author Harold Bell Wright
IllustratorFrank G. Cootes
LanguageEnglish
PublishedAugust 1914
PublisherA.L. Burt Co./The Book Supply Company
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages464

The Eyes of the World is a 1914 novel by Harold Bell Wright, and the bestselling novel in the United States for that year.

Contents

Wright's works by this time were all very popular, though this was his first and only to be ranked as the most popular seller for a given year. Nevertheless, Wright's moralistic tales were critically scorned. Owen Wister’s comments are representative: “I doubt if the present hour furnishes any happier symbols [of the quack novel] than we have in Mr. Wright [and The Eyes of the World]. It gathers into its four hundred and sixty pages all the elements ...of the quack-novel. It is,” Wister says, “stale, distorted, a sham, a puddle of words,” and “a mess of mildewed pap.”

This novel is set in "Fairlands", which is based on Redlands, California, and revolves around several artists and art patrons. [1]

The Eyes of the World was released in August 1914, with an advertising budget of $100,000 to promote it. By the end of September 1914, it was claimed that 750,000 copies had been sold, and in November that 8,000 copies were being bought daily. By Wright's own calculations in 1942, the novel had sold 925,000 total copies, the fifth-most among his output, all of which therefore would rank as "top bracket" best-sellers for their times. [2]

Adaptations

Related Research Articles

<i>Dr. Strangelove</i> 1964 film directed by Stanley Kubrick

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a 1964 political satire black comedy film cowritten, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers in three roles, including the title character. The film, financed and released by Columbia Pictures, was a co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Clavell</span> Novelist (1921–1994)

James Clavell was an Australian-born, British-raised and educated, naturalized-American writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best known for his Asian Saga novels, a number of which have had television adaptations. Clavell also wrote such screenplays as those for The Fly (1958), based on the short story by George Langelaan, and The Great Escape (1963), based on the personal account of Paul Brickhill. He directed the popular 1967 film To Sir, with Love, for which he also wrote the script.

<i>The Hunt for Red October</i> 1984 thriller novel by Tom Clancy

The Hunt for Red October is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutting-edge ballistic missile submarine Red October, and marks the first appearance of Clancy's most popular fictional character, Jack Ryan, an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency, as he must prove his theory that Ramius is intending to defect to the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Hailey</span> Canadian writer

Arthur Frederick Hailey, AE was a Canadian novelist whose plot-driven storylines were set against the backdrops of various industries. His books, which include such best sellers as Hotel (1965), Airport (1968), Wheels (1971), The Moneychangers (1975), and Overload (1979), have sold 170 million copies in 38 languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Follett</span> British bestseller novelist (born 1949)

Kenneth Martin Follett, is a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 160 million copies of his works.

The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. Since October 12, 1931, The New York Times Book Review has published the list weekly. In the 21st century, it has evolved into multiple lists, grouped by genre and format, including fiction and nonfiction, hardcover, paperback and electronic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Booth Tarkington</span> American novelist (1869–1946)

Newton Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) and Alice Adams (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, along with William Faulkner, John Updike, and Colson Whitehead. In the 1910s and 1920s he was considered the United States' greatest living author. Several of his stories were adapted to film.

A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties. An author may also be referred to as a bestseller if their work often appears in a list. Well-known bestseller lists in the U.S. are published by Publishers Weekly, USA Today, The New York Times, and IndieBound. The New York Times tracks book sales from national and independent bookstores, as well as sales from major internet retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

William Wister Haines was an American author, screenwriter, and playwright. His most notable work, Command Decision, was published as a novel, play, and screenplay following World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Bell Wright</span> American writer

Harold Bell Wright was a best-selling American writer of fiction, essays, and nonfiction. Although mostly forgotten or ignored after the middle of the 20th century, he had a very successful career; he is said to have been the first American writer to sell a million copies of a novel and the first to make $1 million from writing fiction. Between 1902 and 1942 Wright wrote 19 books, several stage plays, and many magazine articles. More than 15 movies were made or claimed to be made from Wright's stories, including Gary Cooper's first major movie, The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) and the John Wayne film The Shepherd of the Hills (1941).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. S. M. Hutchinson</span> British novelist

Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson, commonly known by his initials A. S. M. Hutchinson, was a British novelist.

A Native of Beijing in New York, also known as Beijinger in New York, is a novel by Glen Cao (曹桂林), based on his own immigrant story. It was translated into English by Ted Wang (卡本特王). The story follows Qiming Wang and his wife Yan Guo as they work towards the American dream — telling of their immigration, employment, the rearing of their daughter, their eventual success and tragedy — in the foreign environment of the United States. The book was China's #1 best-seller for 1991.

<i>Deluge</i> (novel) 1928 novel by S. Fowler Wright

Deluge is a 1928 novel by S. Fowler Wright.

<i>Mr. Barnes of New York</i>

Mr. Barnes of New York is a novel published in 1887 by American author Archibald Clavering Gunter, quite popular in its day, which was also adapted into a play in 1888, and later two silent film versions.

<i>Joy Street</i> (novel) Book by Frances Parkinson Keyes

Joy Street is a 1950 novel by Frances Parkinson Keyes. Despite only being released on December 1, 1950, it was ranked as the second best-selling novel in the United States for 1950. Over two million copies were in print by the mid-1950s. It also topped the New York Times Best Seller list for eight weeks in 1951.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Virginian (play)</span> 1903 play by Owen Wister and Kirke La Shelle

The Virginian is a 1903 stage production based on the 1902 novel The Virginian by the American author Owen Wister (1860–1938) and set in Wyoming. The play was composed by Wister and playwright Kirke La Shelle, who also produced it. The story describes the life of a cowboy on a cattle ranch in northern Wyoming, where he tends cattle, identifies and hangs a rustler, kills a notorious bad guy, woos and finally marries a school teacher who had come to Wyoming from the East.

References

  1. Forbes, Shari (15 April 2021). Early Redlands was setting for best-selling novel of 1914, Redlands Community News
  2. Mott, Frank Luther. Golden Multitudes The Story Of Best Sellers In The United States, p. 231 (1947)