Wintersemester 2023/24 Hallmark Happiness: Popular Fiction and
the Feel-Good Factor
Many of us read popular fiction, with a favourite
novel, author or genre that we re-read for comfort, relaxation, or inspiration.
Although popular fiction, including genre fiction such as thrillers,
whodunnits, romance, sci-fi fantasy, or YA and children’s lit, far outsell ‘Literature
with a big L,’ these bestsellers are rarely considered for their literary
qualities, and are rarely studied at university.
This class starts with the reader-response of
reading for pleasure, which we explore through the positive aesthetics of recognition,
enchantment, shock, and knowledge (Felski 2008). We aim to uncover the many
facets of popularity by working with the concept of ‘genre worlds’ (Fletcher et
al 2018), taking a cultural approach to the publishing industry, the text
itself, and the social world of fandom to look at the big picture of how
popular texts interact so fully in our lives. A foray into the social uses of
literature further works with arguments from positive psychology, utopian
studies, and social economics to explore the positive personal, cultural and
social structures much popular fiction promotes as desirable and desired by its
massive readership.
Working with one of your own favourite
novels of the popular genre, your task for a seminar paper or BA thesis is to develop
a language for explaining why you love your chosen book, and to uncover the
formal mechanics that create this effect. For the first class, please bring one/a
few novels that a) you really enjoyed reading, and b) you consider fit the
definition of popular fiction.
Class texts to have read before the
semester begins—we only have time to analyse extracts in class:
Romance/YA/graphic fiction: Alice Oseman, Heartstopper
volume 1 2016
Thriller: Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code,
2003
Sci-fi Fantasy: Terry Pratchett and Neil
Gaiman, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch,
1990
Assessment
(10%) Class Participation, including
Expert-Reader discussion
(10%) Term Paper plan
(10%) Model Analysis (term paper
work-in-progress)
(20%) Own-research presentation
(50%) Term paper or Bachelor Thesis