Happyland (novel)
Encyclopedia
Happyland is satirical
novel
written by J. Robert Lennon
about a town in upstate New York
that is taken over by a doll maker. Some have interpreted the plot as an account of American Girl
founder Pleasant Rowland
's attempt to develop the village of Aurora, Cayuga County, New York
, into a quaint tourism destination. The novel also features a women's college, very much like Rowland's alma mater Wells College
and portrays it as a center of lesbian activity.
In 2006, Happyland was dropped by publisher W. W. Norton
, which had previously published Lennon's book Mailman. Instead, it was published as a five-part serial
in Harper's Magazine
.
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by J. Robert Lennon
J. Robert Lennon
John Robert Lennon is an American novelist, short story writer, musician and composer.Lennon was raised in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. He earned a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.F.A. from the University of Montana...
about a town in upstate New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
that is taken over by a doll maker. Some have interpreted the plot as an account of American Girl
American Girl (company)
American Girl is an American line of 18-inch dolls released in 1986 by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray ten-year-old girls of a variety of ethnicities living in various times throughout American history. They are sold with accompanying books told from the viewpoint of the girls...
founder Pleasant Rowland
Pleasant Rowland
Pleasant Rowland is an American educator, writer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Rowland is best known for creating the American Girl brand...
's attempt to develop the village of Aurora, Cayuga County, New York
Aurora, Cayuga County, New York
Aurora is a village and college town in Cayuga County, in the Town of Ledyard, north of Ithaca, New York, United States. The village had a population of 720 at the 2000 census, of which more than 400 were college students....
, into a quaint tourism destination. The novel also features a women's college, very much like Rowland's alma mater Wells College
Wells College
Wells College is a private coeducational liberal arts college located in Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake. Initially an all-women's institution, Wells became a co-ed college in Fall 2005....
and portrays it as a center of lesbian activity.
In 2006, Happyland was dropped by publisher W. W. Norton
W. W. Norton
W. W. Norton & Company is an independent American book publishing company based in New York City. It is well known for its "Norton Anthologies", particularly the Norton Anthology of English Literature and the "Norton Critical Editions" series of texts which are frequently assigned in university...
, which had previously published Lennon's book Mailman. Instead, it was published as a five-part serial
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
in Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
.