From the writer to the bookseller, everyone worries about titles. Oddly, once the book is published, it doesn't seem to matter. Peyton Place was originally "The Tree and The Blossom". So what? Would Catch-22 have fared worse as "Catch-18" (its original title), or Nineteen Eighty-Four as "The Last Man in Europe"? But now, in the ceaseless quest for traction in an overcrowded media marketplace, publishers' publicity departments have got into the world of title anxiety with something we can only describe as pre-hype – the pre-emptive announcement of a bestselling author's latest. Thus JK Rowling scored comprehensively with the well-timed leak of The Casual Vacancy (good title) and Salman Rushdie with Joseph Anton (ditto). None of this, of course, will make any difference to the reviews, but the benign coverage of these literary brands will make all concerned feel better – for now.
Stumped for a title? Then plunder the BardTomorrow is the traditional but disputed date of Shakespeare's death, a day he shares with our national champion, St George.
Shakespeare quotes are, no doubt, the last refuge of the literary scoundrel; five famous titles remind us, in the words of the song, to "Brush Up Your Shakespeare".
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (The Tempest)
The Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth (Julius Caesar)
Alms for Oblivion by Simon Raven (Troilus and Cressida)
Exit Ghost by Philip Roth (Macbeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar)
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (Macbeth)
From Robert McCrum's regular column in The Observer.
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