Deconstructing the Airport Novel

Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 07.19.05 | 12:53 AM ET

“Airport novels represent a literary genre that is not so much defined by its plot or cast of stock characters, as much as it is by the social function it serves.” So begins a great deconstruction of the airport novel on ~~an odd site called News Axis. I can’t figure out who to exactly to credit for~~ Wikipedia. The highly amusing three-page overview, includes a brief history of the genre and a great eye for detail.

“Airport novels are always paperback books of a small but thick format. These books are seldom made to last, printed on inexpensive newsprint, and they often begin to fall apart after one or two readings,” the post reads. “This is not a problem for their intended purpose; they are made to be bought on impulse, and their readers often discard them when finished.”