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Potboiler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For a type of boiler, see pot boiler.
A potboiler is an artistic work (writing, picture, musical composition, play, film, but usually something written), created only to make money quickly or to maintain a steady income for the artist, thus implying that artistic values were subordinate to saleability. The word implies that its author had to create the work to earn enough money to buy fire fuel to heat his cooking pot.
One of the most famous potboilers is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens [1], showing that works written primarily for money are not always of subpar quality. Television host Mike Wallace used the term while interviewing writer Rod Serling about his upcoming show, The Twilight Zone [2]. At that time, science fiction writing was widely considered amateurish and juvenile, and Wallace questioned whether or not Serling was moving away from "serious" writing. However, Serling's series became an influential television classic.
- Sander, Gordon F.:Serling: The Rise And Twilight of Television's Last Angry Man. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
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