Popular Literature and 20th Century Context

Popular Literature

  • The term 'popular literature' is often used to distinguish texts from 'good literature'.
  • Literary works are often canonized through republication, analysis, celebration, and teaching, primarily reaching a minority of educated readers.
  • Works not canonized are labeled as 'popular literature'.
  • Categorizing literature as 'good' or 'popular' based on inherent qualities is subjective.
  • Academics tend to favor works with technical, experimental, or political virtues, or those that represent under-represented experiences.
  • This focus can estrange academics from the broader literary marketplace, leading to ignorance of what the majority reads.
  • Another term for popular fiction is ‘genre fiction’, often viewed negatively as formulaic.
  • Genre fiction was largely ignored by academia until cultural studies emerged.

Cultural Studies

  • Cultural studies, emerging in the 1970s, advocated for studying what people actually read and view, rather than dictating literary taste.
  • This approach examines popular genres that had previously been ignored, such as:
    • Detective fiction
    • Murder mysteries
    • Science Fiction
    • Fantasy
    • Romance
    • The Western
    • Action/adventure
    • Horror

Approaches to Genre Fiction

  • Instead of focusing on single popular book as one might focus on a book considered important, one approach can be to consider many books within a genre.
  • Examination of the treatment of First Nation people in Westerns over time, revealing the evolution of representation.
  • Consideration of Westerns by First Nations authors to understand their perspectives on colonialism and displacement.
  • Analysis of the historical features and myths of a genre, such as the myth that Westerns were mainly written by men.

Janice Radway's Approach to Genre

  • Janice Radway's work, "Reading the Romance", emphasizes that genre is a dynamic industry that changes with consumer tastes.
  • Radway conducted interviews to understand what readers gain from romance novels, finding that they offer readers a sense of self-worth and ability to affect the patriarchal world.
  • Radway asserts that the choice to read romance novels fabricates a predictable, happy ending and depicts a heroine who discovers her individuality through caring for others.

Romance Genre

  • Publishers like Mills & Boon (later Harlequin Enterprises) popularized a formulaic approach: virtuous heroine, powerful hero, misunderstandings, and a guaranteed happy ending (HEA).
  • This provided emotional satisfaction and idealized relationships.
  • Evolving with the sexual revolution and feminist movements, later novels presented more assertive heroines with agency and careers, and more explicit sensuality.
  • Subgenres like historical romance, paranormal romance, and romantic suspense emerged.
  • Romance consistently centers female perspectives and desires, exploring relationships, intimacy, and emotional fulfillment for a predominantly female readership.

Horror Genre

  • Post-World War II, horror shifted inward, exploring psychological disintegration and the uncanny within the mundane.
  • Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and Richard Matheson's I Am Legend exemplified this shift.
  • The genre achieved mainstream success from the 1970s, driven by Stephen King, who blended supernatural elements with relatable characters and settings.
  • Key figures like Peter Straub and Clive Barker broadened the genre's scope, with Barker introducing "splatterpunk".
  • Horror adeptly channels anxieties of each era, from cosmic indifference to nuclear threat.

Subgenres of Horror

  • Psychological Horror:
    • Focuses on internal dread, mental instability, and emotional distress.
    • Features unreliable narrators and ambiguous threats.
    • Explores themes of trauma, grief, guilt, paranoia, and identity crisis.
    • Examples: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.
  • Body Horror:
    • Focuses on the grotesque destruction, decay, mutation, or violation of the human body.
    • Evokes visceral disgust and fear related to disease, parasitism, and loss of bodily autonomy.
    • Examples: The Troop by Nick Cutter, Clive Barker's Books of Blood.
  • Folk Horror:
    • Set in isolated rural communities, drawing horror from folklore and pagan traditions.
    • Themes include insular societies, cults, ritual sacrifice, and the power of nature.
    • Examples: Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon, The Ceremonies by T.E.D. Klein, Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley.
  • Social Thriller / "Elevated Horror":
    • Uses horror tropes to comment on social or political issues.
    • Tackles issues like racism, sexism, class inequality, and historical trauma.
    • Examples: The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin, The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris.
  • Zombie Apocalypse / Post-Apocalyptic Horror:
    • Centers on the collapse of society due to an outbreak and the struggle for survival.
    • Explores themes of societal breakdown, resource scarcity, and the loss of humanity.
    • Examples: World War Z by Max Brooks, The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, Zone One by Colson Whitehead.

Detective Fiction

  • Classic Whodunit / Golden Age Mystery:
    • Emphasizes the puzzle aspect, flourishing between the World Wars.
    • Occurs in a closed setting with a limited number of suspects.
    • Features a brilliant amateur or gentleman detective.
    • Examples: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, John Dickson Carr.
  • Hardboiled / Private Eye (P.I.) Fiction:
    • Reacted against the gentility of the Golden Age, emerging in American pulp magazines.
    • Detectives are cynical Private Investigators operating in corrupt urban landscapes.
    • Relies on persistence, intuition, and force.
    • Examples: Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald.
  • Thriller/Suspense (Detective Elements):
    • Incorporates detective elements, focusing on investigation, suspense, and action.
    • Shifts focus from "whodunit?" to "can the protagonist stop the bad thing/escape in time?"
    • Examples: Thomas Harris, Lee Child, Stieg Larsson.

Analyzing a Popular Novel

  1. Genre and Authorial Context: Consider the book's relationship to the author's other works and its place within its genre. Evaluate its novelty and genre classification.
  2. Issue Representation: Analyze how the novel addresses issues like race, gender, violence, or colonialism and its impact on public perception.
  3. Historical Elements: Examine the historical aspects of the genre and the novel's position in its evolution.
  4. Myth Examination: Investigate how the novel supports or contradicts established genre myths.
  5. Production and Consumption: Analyze publishers' influence on genres, self-publishing trends, and reader engagement through fan communities and fan fiction.

The Second Half of the 20th Century

  • Brief summary of key events from the 1950s to the end of the century.

The Cold War

  • Division of the world into pro-USA and pro-Soviet blocs.
  • Europe divided into East and West.
  • Korean and Vietnam wars as proxy conflicts (1950-53).
  • The Cold War (ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union).
  • The economic and political philosophy of the Eastern Bloc was communism which promotes State ownership of industry and agriculture.
  • The Unites States with allies fought against North Korean communist forces and then the Chinese as they were drawn into the battle.
  • The Soviet Union and communism generally had been successful at positioning itself as a friend of indigenous anti-colonial forces.
  • The atomic bomb was quickly copied by the Soviets in 1949 and the much more powerful hydrogen bomb was developed by both sides in the 1950s.
  • In the Cuban crisis of 1962 the communist leader Fidel Castro was discovered to have allowed the importation of Soviet Inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) into Cuba.
  • It is likely that a full nuclear exchange at that time would have killed 30 to 50 million people in the United States and a similar number in the Soviet Union.

Rise of Consumerism

  • Post-World War II affluence and the growth of consumer culture.

Feminism

  • The feminist movement and its impact on literature and society.

Suburbia

  • The growth of suburbs and car culture.

Reverse Colonization

  • Migration from former colonies to colonizing countries (e.g., the Windrush Generation).

1960s

  • Key events: the Civil Rights Movement, assassinations, and the Vietnam War.

Watergate

  • The Watergate scandal and its impact on American politics.

1980s and the Turn to the Right

  • Shift towards conservative ideologies in politics and economics.

Globalisation

  • Increasing interconnectedness and interdependence of nations.

The Environment

  • Growing awareness of environmental issues.