We all know about the extra features on DVDs: those behind-the-scenes documentaries and deleted scenes that accompany the main feature – often uninformative pap, very occasionally sublime. But what about extra features for books?
The trend towards stirring more and more content into a book first struck me when I read a Harper edition of Tim O’Brien’s If I Die In a Combat Zone some years ago. Its cover promised what it called a P.S. section, a supplementary dose of reviews, interviews and articles about the title in hand. And, sure enough, there they were: one publisher’s attempt to add more value to their product in an uncertain marketplace.
I’ve come across similar attempts since – but, really, the idea of adding written value to books isn’t anything new. Just think of the introductions, by this author or that academic, that have preceded classic works for decades. The question, really, is just how much value is added. Just as with their DVD counterparts, these extra features can be worthless and dull. Or they can even surpass the title they are appended to.
In which case, I thought it might be useful to collect some of the best literary extras under one heading, so to speak. Here are five books that I have read, or re-read, in the past few months, and which have worthwhile introductions, articles or otherwise thrown in with them:
1) The Norton Critical edition of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie includes the author’s important essay on American naturalism, True Art Speaks Plainly.
2) And another essay: The Modern Library edition of HP Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness contains the author’s sharp overview of Supernatural Horror in Literature.
3) The Hitch on Graham Greene? As insightful as it sounds, and available in the Vintage imprint’s release of Our Man in Havana.
4) Comic book publishers have worked particularly hard in the extras department. Seems like most funny books come with original scripts and draft artwork nowadays. Few, though, are as enjoyable as the essays on crime film, and the accompanying images, included in the deluxe edition of Ed Brubaker’s and Sean Baker’s Criminal. A very wise purchase for anyone, but especially those looking to get into graphic novels.
5) Robert Frank’s The Americans has carried an introduction by Jack Kerouac since it was first published in 1959, and the most recent reprint by Steidl is no different. The introduction itself is Acquired Taste Kerouac – but if you enjoy the sketchbook style of, say, Visions of Cody, then it’s a treat.
But I’m sure Spectator readers will have plenty more to offer. The comments section is yours.
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