Presumptive 2020 Democratic front-runner Oprah Winfrey is responsible for unleashing any number of ills on the world: Dr. Phil; James Frey; The Butler. But give her credit for this: In the aggressively philistine world of reality television, Winfrey has been a lone voice stressing the importance of literature to a full life.
Oprah’s Book Club, which started out monthly before Winfrey scaled back to several times a year, ran from 1996 to 2011, when she retired from her eponymous television show. She would select a novel for her viewers to read and discuss. All told, 70 books were chosen; each was affixed with an “Oprah’s Book Club” insignia. (Oprah’s Book Club 2.0, which began in 2012, still pitches high-quality books. But it has generated less attention, just as Oprah’s network is less influential than her former show.)
Oprah’s Book Club was a godsend to an ever-more beleaguered publishing industry; one professor estimated total sales of Oprah Edition books of 55 million. And here’s the thing: Oprah recommended serious novels, including classics by authors such as Faulkner, Tolstoy, and Dickens. She championed contemporary literature as well, highlighting, for example, Cormac McCarthy, Colson Whitehead, and Andre Dubus III. And she showed real grace when Jonathan Franzen insulted her after she selected The Corrections for her book club: Despite his being a colossal jerk, she did not remove her insignia from that book. (They later made up, when Franzen released another book club choice, Freedom.)
Indeed, the demise of Oprah’s book club has shown how the publishing industry, just like Hollywood, has become disturbingly beholden to a few mega franchises. Booksellers have struggled the last couple of years because the Harry Potter series has concluded, for example, and also because sales of adult coloring books have waned. (Yes, really.) Oprah’s imprimatur provided solid support to authors who might otherwise not have enjoyed widespread acclaim or even attention. At the occasion of her retirement, Nielsen mapped just how much of a sales spike an Oprah recommendation could generate. (The current president’s book recommendations carry less heft.) Serious authors have suffered for her absence.
But perhaps more important was the implicit message of Oprah’s Book Club. Sure, she’s always embraced a certain kind of bald materialism: “You’ve got a car, you’ve got a car!” But Oprah’s Book Club also indicated her belief in the importance of literature to a well-rounded life. Suffice to it say, that is not a message one often hears from reality television show hosts.
Or, for that matter, from politicians. (If you want to get depressed, look at one of those features where they ask politicians the last book they read.) If for no reason other than her affinity for novelists from Toni Morrison to Charles Dickens, Winfrey might be a welcome presence on the political stage.
