The Cultural Politics of Chick Lit: Popular Fiction, Postfeminism and Representation

ISBN-13: 9780367877460 / Angielski / Miękka / 2019 / 222 str.

Heike Missler

Opis

This study traces the evolution of chick lit not only as a genre of popular fiction, but as a cultural phenomenon. It complicates the genealogy of the texts by situating them firmly in the context of age-old debates about female literary creation, and by highlighting the dynamics of the popular-fiction market. The volume weaves a sound methodolo

Spis treści

Introduction: Situating Chick Lit in Popular Culture

Part I: Contexts

1. That's me! - Enter Everywoman

Bridget's Sisters, Mothers and Grandmothers - A Genealogy

Chick Lit's Critical Reception: "Still scribbling, still damned" (Modleski xxi)

From Harlequin/Mills & Boon to Chick Lit: Reinventing the Romance?

The Making/Marketing of a Genre

The (Non-)Death of Chick Lit

2. Reading/Writing Chick Lit: Online Fandom and its Impact on the Genre

Of Bloggers, Fans, and Poachers

The Chick-Lit Blog Survey

Part II: Texts

3. Engaging The Reader: Ambiguity, Identification, and Interpretation

Offers of Identification and Reader Positions in Chick Lit

The Failed Chick: Emma McLaughlin's and Nicola Kraus's Citizen Girl (2004)

4. Funny Chicks: Humour and Irony in Chick Lit

The Forms and Functions of Humour in Chick Lit

Lynn Harris's Death by Chick Lit (2007): Humouring Different Readerships

5. Escapism is for Everyone: Structures of Desire in Chick Lit

Nostalgia in Chick Lit

Neoliberal Fantasies: Erica Kennedy's Feminista (2009)

Conclusion and Outlook: The Evolution of a Formula

O autorze

Heike Mißler is a Senior Lecturer at the English Department of Saarland University, Germany, where she has recently completed her PhD on postfeminist fiction. Her research interests are feminist theory, gender and queer studies, and popular culture studies.