1st Edition

Popular Fiction The Logics and Practices of a Literary Field

By Ken Gelder Copyright 2004
192 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

186 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

192 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

In this important book, Ken Gelder offers a lively, progressive and comprehensive account of popular fiction as a distinctive literary field. Drawing on a wide range of popular novelists, from Sir Walter Scott and Marie Corelli to Ian Fleming, J. K. Rowling and Stephen King, his book describes for the first time how this field works and what its unique features are. In addition, Gelder provides a... Read more
Introduction  Part 1: Defining the Field  1. Popular Fiction: The Opposite of Literature?  2. Genre: History, Attitudes, Practice  3. Processing Popular Fiction: Bookshops, Fans, Fanzines and Prozines, Organizations  Part 2: Five Popular Novelists  4. (Lo-tech) John Grisham and (Hi-tech) Michael Crichton: Putting the Thriller to Work  5. The Vampire Writes Back: Anne Rice and the (Re)Turn of the Author  6. Jackie Collins, Anti-Romance and the Celebrity Novel  7. J.R.R. Tolkien and Global Terrorism  Conclusion  Bibliography  Index

Biography

Ken Gelder is a Reader in English at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His books include Reading the Vampire (Routledge 1994) and, with Jane M. Jacobs, Uncanny Australia: Sacredness and Identity in a Postcolonial Nation (Melbourne University Press, 1998). He is co-editor of The Subcultures Reader (1997) and editor of The Horror Reader (2000), both published by Routledge.