POPULAR FICTION

POPULAR FICTION

Module Level:

Module Leader:

Dr R. Dover

Module Credit Value:

10 Credit Points

Recommended prior knowledge:

It is recommended that students have taken the Level I module ‘Introduction to Narrative’.

Aims

The module aims might be described as follows:

To introduce key themes and issues involved in the study of works of popular fiction
to encourage exploration of the relationship between works of popular fiction and social, cultural and ideological contexts
to explore the variety of genres, narrative modes and styles, discourse and themes commonly found in works of popular fiction
to consider the historical development of popular fiction in Britain in the twentieth century
to raise issues of the relationship between “popular” and “high” works of fiction
to raise issues concerning the basis for the popularity of works of popular fiction.

Indicative Content

In the opening weeks of the course students will be introduced to some of the key themes and issues involved in the study of popular fiction: sociological issues of readership, audience, marketing and sales; semiological and narratological approaches; and social and cultural issues of the role and influence of popular fiction. Students will explore the approaches of critics such as Q.D. Leavis, Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams, and their arguments concerning discrimination, ‘mass culture’ and ‘minority culture’, and ‘taste’, in addition to more recent Marxist and Structuralist criticism.

Subsequent weeks will be concerned with the detailed examination and discussion of a range of texts, studied in relation to key issues, forms and genres:

'The Masculine Romance' - John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps and Geoffery Household's Rogue Male, with emphasis on issues of masculinity, action, agency and social order.
'The Feminine Romance' - Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and Catherine Cookson's The Mallen Streak, with reference to issues of femininity, desire, sexuality, and the 'nature/culture' opposition.
'The Lower Middle Class Novel' - A.J. Cronin's Hatter's Castle or R.F. Delderfield's To Serve them All My Days, with consideration of issues such as social class and social mobility, sexuality and gender, Englishness, and responses to contemporary history.
'Images of Society and of the Nation' - examples to include texts by J.B. Priestley, C.P. Snow or John Braine (for example, Room at the Top), with reference to issues of social class, nationality and gender.
'Science Fiction' - examples to include texts by John Wyndham, J.G. Ballard, Arthur C. Clarke or Michael Moorcock, and to consider issues of faith/belief, dystopian fiction, social order and the uses and abuses of 'science' and technology.
'The Thriller' - Texts by Ian Fleming or Frederick Forsythe's The Day of the Jackal, to include consideration of issues such as social order, masculinity, moral agency and responses to contemporary social formations.
'Fornication and Shopping' - consideration of issues of sexuality, fetishism, desire, social order and capitalism in contemporary 'potboiler' fiction, in texts by authors such as Jackie Collins (The World is Full of Married Men)

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course students should be able to:

demonstrate a working understanding of the approaches to, and concepts involved in, the study of modern popular fiction.
apply critical approaches and concepts to the study of a variety of modern popular fiction texts.
demonstrate an ability to identify and analyse the treatment of recurrent themes and issues - social class, gender, national identity, social and psychological identity - in modern popular fiction texts.
discuss the development of, and determining contexts behind, various forms of modern popular fiction
demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the relationship between popular fiction, ideology, culture and society.

Teaching and Learning Strategies

The module will involve student groupwork and individual reading, based on the prepared “Helpfile” (a 60-page Resource Pack) which will be distributed to all students and also available in electronic format (network and internet-based). Formal sessions, of 2 hours, will be used for student and tutor-led seminars, and individual study time will be used for reading and seminar presentation.

Assessment Strategies

The unit will be assessed through a balance of coursework (50%) and examination (50%). Coursework requirements will consist of one 2,000-word assignment, prepared by students within one month of the publication of assignment questions. Assignment questions will contain a mixture of text-specific and general questions, each question designed to elicit detailed analytical and interpretative responses to open-ended issues. The Examination will be a 90-minute unseen paper, with students being required to answer one general and one specific questions on the material they have studied on the module.

Students will be assessed on their detailed knowledge of the novels themselves, on their ability to apply, relate and evaluate appropriate critical insights and perspectives appropriate for Level 1 study

Bibliography

Beauman, N., A Very Great Profession, (Virago, 1983)

ed. T. Bennett, Popular Fiction: Technology, Ideology, Production, Reading, (RKP, 1990)

ed. T. Bennett et al, Popular Culture and Social Relations, (Open University Press, 1976).

R. Bromley, Lost Narratives: Popular Fictions, Politics and Recent History, (RKP, 1988).

J.G. Cawelti, Adventure, Mystery and Romance, (University of Chicago Press, 1976)

C. Cockburn, Bestseller, (Sidgwick and Jackson, 1972)

U. Eco, The Role of the Reader, (Hutchinson, 1979).

Fowler, The Alienated Reader: Women and Romantic Fiction in the Twentieth Century, (Harvester, 1991)

R. Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy, (Chatto & Windus, 1957)

ed. P. Humm, Popular Fictions, (Methuen, 1986)

Q.D. Leavis, Fiction and the Reading Public, (Chatto & Windus, 1930).

A. Light, Forever England, (RKP, 1992)

T. Modelski, Loving With a Vengeance: Mass-produced Fantasies for Women, (Methuen, 1982).

Open University, U203: Popular Culture, (Open University Press, 1981).

J. Palmer, Thrillers, (Edward Arnold, 1979)

J. Palmer, Potboilers: Methods, Concepts and Case Studies in Popular Fiction. (RKP, 1991).

P. Parrinder, Science Fiction: Its Criticism and Teaching, (Methuen, 1980).

ed. Christopher Pawling, Popular Fiction and Social Change, (Macmillan, 1984)

Radstone, Sweet Dreams: Sexuality, Gender and Popular Fiction (Lawrence Wishart, 1988)

J. Sutherland, Bestsellers: Popular fiction of the 1970s, (RKP, 1981).

A. Swingewood, The Myth of Mass Culture, (Macmillan, 1977)

K. Warole, Dockers and Detectives. Popular Reading, Popular Writing, (Verso, 1983).

C. Watson, Snobbery with Violence, (Penguin, 1975).

Williams, The Long Revolution, (Chatto & Windus, 1961)

Return to Semester Two Modules