Category: Popular Literature

T.S. Eliot, writing in 1948, observed that although Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) had undeniably possessed a powerful intellect it was merely that “of a highly gifted young person before puberty.” In spite of Poe’s ability to dazzle and terrify, he maintained that “[t]he forms which his lively curiosity takes are those in which a pre-adolescent … Continue reading “‘Edgar Allan Poe: On the Value of the Popular’ by Edward O’Hare”

Imaginary worlds are fun. They give us the imaginative scope to explore our wildest ideas. They can be places of grand adventure like the galaxy of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, places of great quests like J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, fantastic realms which embrace and revel in the impossible like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, or places of … Continue reading “‘The Subtle Art of Worldbuilding’ by Jennifer Harwood Smith”

Check out the latest issue at the link below: https://jamesbondstudies.roehampton.ac.uk/8/volume/1/issue/2/

Fifty Shades of Grey is boring. Charting the development of a deeply unequal relationship between a broke, sexually inexperienced English Literature graduate and a slightly older billionaire – a seasoned “dominant” who “like[s] to whip little brown-haired girls” (Fifty Shades Darker) for his own sexual pleasure – E.L. James’[1] trilogy and the resulting film versions … Continue reading “‘Fifty Shades of Grey and Women(’s) Writing’ by Dara Downey”

When Anthony Horowitz’s second James Bond book Forever And A Day is released in May 2018 (according to the publicity, a prequel to Casino Royale), it will be around the fiftieth official Bond book (though it depends how you count them) and that doesn’t include the ten or so Young Bond books or the three Moneypenny … Continue reading “‘James Bond Today… Still Licensed to Thrill’ by Robert Rakison”

American popular literature has been largely dominated in the past thirty years by a handful of writers whose productivity and commercial success have defined their works, as well their public images. In terms of crime, the names that likely spring to mind are those such as Stephen King and John Grisham, but there is a … Continue reading “‘Beyond the Best-Selling Label: Patricia Cornwell and Kay Scarpetta’ by Elena Avanzas Álvarez”

Open a book. Turn your TV on. Look for a crime story and you will probably find a woman at the centre of it. And even though victims in crime fiction have traditionally been female—a subject worthy of its own post—I am talking about the wave of strong, opinionated, and inspiring women who have owned … Continue reading “‘Why we Like Our Crime Fiction Feminist (But We May Have a Hard Time Admitting it)’ by Elena Avanzas Álvarez”

The modern popular romance novel, as a form of fiction which has “a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending” (RWA, “About”), has many recognised subgenres, including historical, paranormal, religious, science fiction and suspense, not least because the plot of the romance combines extremely well with those of many other forms of … Continue reading “‘An Introduction to Popular Romance 2’ by Laura Vivanco”

Romance, as Barbara Fuchs has observed, “is a notoriously slippery category. Critics disagree about whether it is a genre or a mode, about its origins and history, even about what it encompasses” (1). I’d like to discuss first some definitions of popular romance and then its “origins and history.”  Pamela Regis, author of the influential … Continue reading “‘An Introduction to Popular Romance 1’ by Laura Vivanco”