Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 426 g
Reihe: Continuum Literary Studies
Writing Romance
Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 426 g
Reihe: Continuum Literary Studies
ISBN: 978-0-8264-8746-9
Verlag: Continnuum-3PL
Organized around each decade of the postwar period, this book analyses novels written by and for women from 1945 to the present; writers such as Barbara Cartland, Barbara Taylor Bradford and Danielle Steel. Each chapter identifies a specific genre in popular fiction for women, which marked that period and provides case studies focusing on writers and texts that enjoyed a wide readership. Despite their popularity, these novels remain largely outside the 'canon' of women's writing, and are often unacknowledged by feminist literary criticism.
However, these texts clearly touched a nerve with a largely female readership, and so offer a means of charting the changes in ideals of femininity, and in the tensions and contradictions in gender identities in the postwar period. Their analysis offers new insights into the shifting demands, aspirations and expectations of what a woman could and should be over the last half century. Through her analysis of women's writing and reading, Philips sets out to challenge the distinction between 'popular' and 'literary' fiction, arguing that neat categories such as 'popular', 'middle brow' and 'serious fiction' need more careful definition.
