What does 'Cult Classic' means?

[krishna_lit]

I often meet the word 'cult classic' when i read about some books or plots on the internet. I always wondered what that term actually means and tells about a book. Can somebody post here the names of such books?

[WyattGwyon]

I take this to mean a book that has found an audience that is loyal, enthusiastic, often well-read and well-informed, but likely not mainstream or large—a niche audience. William Gaddis's The Recognitions was a kind of cult classic during its first twenty years, when it languished in relative obscurity and before it was recognized as one of the great novels of the twentieth century. I think Tolkien's Lord of the Rings had this kind of status for a number of years before it went mainstream. And, sticking with the fantasy genre, I would say Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books are still cult classics.

I'm not sure this is helpful or correct:)

[Charles Darnay]

^Basically this.

A cult classic is a work that becomes popular due not to it in of itself, but to the culture that rises around it.

The best example I can think of is outside of literature: Rocky Horror Picture Show. It did not become popular because it is particularly good: it became popular because of the culture that it created. Dressing up, throwing toast, wearing a newspaper on your head and lighting a match - all this makes RHPS classic.

In literature, I would say that On the Road is a great example. Not that On the Road is bad (the quality of work is irrelevant) but the culture around it was so strong in the day.

[Anton Hermes]

I second WyattGwyon's definition. Cult classics aren't popular in the Harry Potter sense (and are often hopelessly obscure), but they have an enthusiastic following.

One example I can think of is A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley. People who love this book are absolutely fanatical about it. This one and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman describe the decline of their protagonists way too realistically for most readers to find entertaining, but they seem to fire the imaginations of a select audience.

[Eiseabhal]

I think a book like The Beach by Garland could fairly be described as a cult classic. I feel that the readership of such a text is fairly narrow and defined - they may even feel themselves to be a sub-culture - at least initially. Even if (perhaps because of being filmed) such a text "escapes" to a general readership it may still have the aura of a cult classic about it. I'm not a hippy or former hippy but I reckon many of those who first were drawn to that text would have felt themselves part of that culture. I have never read Fight Club and have no intention to do so (I had enough of real violence in the British Army without wallowing in fictional descriptions) but it would in my definition come under the heading of cult fiction. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance would be a cult book.

[kelby_lake]

I think that cult classic is a film that initially started as obscure but has been adopted into the mainstream.

[ralfyman]

Try this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_film