The Political Influence of the Thriller

Abstract

Miss Morland’s tastes are widely shared today, for Udolpho was an early thriller, that is to say, a story of conflict or intrigue, nowadays usually involving crime, espionage or violence, in which the reader’s attention is focused on the dangers run by the characters. There are few forms of writing so clearly identifiable or which command a wider public. In 1967, for instance, the world’s 50 most frequently translated authors included 11 writers of thrillers, of whom Simenon surpassed Shakespeare and was beaten only by the heavily subsidised Lenin, while Alistair Maclean did almost twice as well as George Bernard Shaw. ² In 1961, 25 per cent of all paperbacks published in the United States were thrillers; ³ and in 1971 about a fifth of British fiction in print as paperbacks fell under the heading of ‘Murder and Mystery’. ⁴

Come Miss Morland, let us praise Udolpho in whatever terms we like best. It is a most interesting work. You are fond of that kind of reading?

To say the truth, I do not much like any other.

Jane Austen ¹