Write an essay discussing important issues in popular literature.

The following are some important issues of study in popular literature –

1)      Popular Literature as Part of an Entertainment Industry

Popular literature has always been understood as part of the larger entertainment industry which exists in the form of the marketplace regulated by forces of demand and supply. Works of popular fiction are often classified as ‘bestsellers’ and critics have repeatedly argued that that their aesthetics are governed by commercial forces. Dominic Strinati (1947), a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Leicester and the author of An Introduction to Studying Popular Culture, says that industrialisation and commercialisation have had significant influence over works of popular culture. This makes us wonder if the criteria of profitability and marketability take precedence over “quality, artistry, integrity and intellectual challenge” (3). This debate shaped one of the most important critical conceptions of popular literature as a part of a “culture industry” (Adorno).

 

2)      Popular Literature as Genre Fiction

Genre fiction refers to works of literature written with the intent of conforming to the norms of a particular kind of writing. Such works place more emphasis on following the traditions of a particular genre. Science fiction, detective thrillers and romance novels are often considered prime examples of genre fiction. Ken Gelder (1955), a Professor of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Melbourne, who has also been a visiting fellow at University College and King’s College in London, and the University of Edinburgh, classifies popular fiction as genre fiction and says that generic identities “determine not just what is inside the actual novel, but who published it, how and through what ventures it is marketed, who consumes and evaluates it and how this is done” (2). This overdetermination by the traditional markers of genre have also led to the labeling of popular literature as ‘formulaic’ i.e. the idea that all popular fiction follows the same old, repetitive narrative logic and lacks any creative vigour or originality.

 

3)      Rooted in Time and Place

The idea of the popular is very firmly rooted in a particular spatial and temporal realm. What counts as popular today might not have the same valence a few decades from now. Similarly, what is popular in a particular culture or community might not translate well to other cultures. Critics have often argued that popular fiction lacks longevity i.e. it does not survive the test of time. As opposed to this, a classical or a canonical text “transcends time and space and gives new meaning to new generation of readers” (Berberich 4). This distinction between popular and canonical has occupied a central position in all critical discussions of this form of cultural production. Instead of seeing popular literature’s lack of longevity as a weakness, certain critics now understand it as its strength. Since these texts are rooted in a particular time and space, they are able to capture a society’s socio-cultural anxieties or as Clive Bloom (1953), an Emeritus Professor at Middlesex University, UK, who writes on popular literature, gothic fiction, history and politics, and is a broadcaster as well as an occasional journalist, puts it, they become “the barometer of contemporary imagination” (15). The audience/ the readership too play a huge role in determining the popularity of a text.

 

4)      Role of Audience/ Readership

Popular fiction is marked by a significant involvement of readers not simply as consumers but also as producers and creators. The creation of fandom or groups of fans who are devoted consumers of certain genres or authors leads to certain important changes in the production and distribution of popular literature. As Ken Gelder writes, “popular fiction has fans - readerships which live through their genres, inhabiting them and claiming them,” (81). This aspect shapes our understanding of this literature as a mass mediated form, one which is equally influenced by the forces of the market and the demands of their devoted fandoms.

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