The Popular and Genre Fiction Research Network is a space for researchers of all levels to collaborate and learn from each other. Our focus is on anything that could be deemed a ‘popular’ or ‘genre’ work, from all mediums and disciplines within the humanities.<\/p>\n
If you would like to get in touch with us to suggest an event, or pitch a blog post, you can contact our network leader Dr Amy Burge at a.burge@bham.ac.uk<\/a>, or get in touch with our network assistant Georgie Rowe at gxr697@student.bham.ac.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n \u2018What is it, exactly, about genre that is unliterary\u2014and what is it in \u201cthe literary\u201d that resists genre? The debate goes round and round, magnetic and circular\u2014a lover\u2019s quarrel among literati.\u2019 \u2018[\u2026] once the idea of English Literature is denuded of value judgements and canonical discussion, a wholly new entity appears.\u2019 No doubt, popular fiction is an increasingly important field of research. In the last thirty years in particular we have seen a huge upsurge in the amount of critical studies devoted to such major areas as sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, which were previously comparatively overlooked within literary criticism. Popular Fiction is now increasingly present in universities with an array of undergraduate modules at Birmingham and elsewhere focused on genre and popular fiction.<\/p>\n We are seeing more and more interrogations into the complexities and significance of mass culture and literature and into what exactly even constitutes \u2018Popular Literature\u2019. In the last few years alone, Joshua Rothman has instigated a vibrant and impassioned discussion on so-called \u2018genrefication\u2019, whilst Ken Gelder has published New Directions in Popular Fiction<\/em> and Bernice M. Murphy has brought out Key Concepts in Contemporary Popular Fiction<\/em>. Described by David Glover and Scott McCracken as a \u2018deceptively simple\u2019 subject of study, Popular Fiction\u2014with its intriguing and symbiotic relationship to popular culture more widely\u2014is something worth talking about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Popular and Genre Fiction Research Network is a space for researchers of all levels to collaborate and learn from each other. Our focus is on anything that could be deemed a ‘popular’ or ‘genre’ work, from all mediums and disciplines within the humanities. If you would like to get in touch with us to … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":288,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-500","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/poplit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/poplit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/poplit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/poplit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/288"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/poplit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/poplit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1072,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/poplit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/500\/revisions\/1072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/poplit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n\u2014Joshua Rothman, \u2018A Better Way to Think About the Genre Debate\u2019, The New Yorker <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
\n\u2014Clive Bloom, Bestsellers: Popular Fiction Since 1900<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n