Fictional Analogues
Stephen Potter's "Upmanship" books are satirical takes on status-seeking under the cloak of sociableness - 'remember, that it is just on such occasions that an appearance of geniality is most important' - cast in advice-book form. A few decades later, with the neoliberal turn, such advice - 'Remember the reality of self-interest' - would be being seriously advocated in the self-help world: in bestsellers like Swim with the Sharks, all 'kinds of seemingly benign guile are encouraged', on the principle that 'status displays matter: just don't be suckered by them yourself'.
Perhaps the best-known fictional embodiment of the world of the self-help book is Bridget Jones. Taking 'self-help books... a new form of religion' - 'a kind of secularised religion - a sort of moral values lite' - she struggles to integrate its often conflicting instructions into a coherent whole. 'She must stop beating herself over the head with Women Who Love Too Much and instead think more towards Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus...see Richard's behaviour less as a sign that she is co-dependent and loving too much and more in the light of him being like a Martian rubber band'. Even she, however, has the occasional crisis of faith, when she wonders: 'Maybe it helps if you've never read a self-help book in your life'.
In the BookWorld Companion, it is suggested that 'those of you who have tired of the glitzy world of shopping and inappropriate boyfriends in Chicklit, a trip to Dubious Lifestyle Advice might be the next step. An hour in the hallowed halls of invented ills will leave you with at least ten problems you never knew you had, let alone existed'.
Read more about this topic: Self-help Book
Famous quotes containing the words fictional and/or analogues:
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