Ministry Of Eccentricity

Fifty Shades Of Grey:

Novel or fan fiction?

Contrary to the beliefs and claims of many, The New York Times’ #1 bestselling novel, Fifty Shades Of Grey by E.L. James isn’t really ‘A one of a kind’ or a novel with a genre of its own. In fact, erotic novels have been in the market for years, if not decades. What is new, however, is that a novel from said genre has climbed The New York Times’ bestseller list, so high, so fast!

E.L. James

Set in Seattle, Fifty Shades Of Grey, tells the story of Anastasia Steele, a young woman in her college senior year who is yet a virgin, and her confrontation with striking, alluring, business tycoon, Christian Grey who turns out to have a dark, kinky secret. Personally, I read it and found it amusing, yet undeniably artistically devoid with highly sexual proses that are only used for commercialization. How is that different from prostitution?!

 The novel was originally a fan fiction for Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling classic, Twilight. Is the writing style worthy of its position on the bestseller list? Definitely not! Why is it there then? Commercialization… which brings us back to square one, which is the most prominent and dominating factor when it comes to the publishing world? Business or Art? In a utopian world, over the rainbow, it’s the latter. Unfortunately, however, as the Russian quote says, ‘When money speaks, the truth is silent’ and so this painfully intimidating novel will stay on the racks for a little longer, thanks to teenage girls, while the one place it actually deserves to be is fanfiction.net.