Chick Lit: The New Woman's Fiction

by Suzanne Ferriss (Editor), Mallory Young (Editor), Chris Mazza (Contributor)

From the bestselling Bridget Jones's Diary that started the trend to the television sensation Sex and the City that captured it on screen, "chick lit" has become a major pop culture phenomenon. Banking on female audiences' identification with single, urban characters who struggle with the same life challenges, publishers have earned millions and even created separate imprints dedicated to the genre. Not surprisingly, some highbrow critics have dismissed chick lit as trashy fiction, but fans have argued that it is as empowering as it is entertaining.

This is the first volume of its kind to examine the chick lit phenomenon from a variety of angles, accounting for both its popularity and the intense reactions-positive and negative-it has provoked. The contributors explore the characteristics that cause readers to attach the moniker "chick" to a particular book and what, if anything, distinguishes the category of chick lit from the works of Jane Austen on one end and Harlequin romance novels on the other. They critique the genre from a range of critical perspectives, considering its conflicted relationship with feminism and postfeminism, heterosexual romance, body image, and consumerism. The fourteen original essays gathered here also explore such trends and subgenres as "Sistah Lit," "Mommy Lit," and "Chick Lit Jr.," as well as regional variations.

As the first book to consider the genre seriously, Chick Lit offers real insight into a new generation of women's fiction.

Genres: Nonfiction

282 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2005

Reviews

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think this could‘ve been half as long if not every single essay repeated the basics… like I GET that the cover is always so "girly", it‘s about a young white woman, and she tends to be a shopaholic… pls get to the actual point

and why is chicklit written differently everytime WITHIN one essay? either explain the difference in meaning or stick to one spelling

[Katherine Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I am officially reading for my monograph, so I'm excited and nervous. I've had it for a few weeks and was waiting till I had Evernote. I've decided I can't wait any longer, and the book is due June 22, so I know what I'll be doing tomorrow and Monday...

I just finished. I have mixed feelings about this book. In terms of my own monograph, I think it will be incredibly useful. The collection of essays was interesting (and once again, there were a few that made me think--I can write better than that! OK, then do so, Katherine, I thought to myself.) The difficulty is that I really have serious problems with chick lit, and the women who edited the volume just don't--or are at least giving the subject a gravity I really think it doesn't possess. (Yes, it made me nearly as frustrated as reading justifications for category romance). But, I'm glad I read it, and will gladly move on to some more texts for the monograph.

[J B · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was sucked in by the title, but disappointed with what I was able to read before someone put a hold on it at the library. In the first article alone were two major factual errors.

[Ciara · Rating 3 out of 5]

so, this is actually a collection of academic essays about the phenomenon known as chick lit. i was really excited to read this because i think i have proven that i have a bit of a weakness for chick lit under certain circumstances. it's kind of like my obsession with the TV show "friends". yes, it's stupid. yes, it's well below my intelligence. yes, it can even be offensive sometimes, what with the shoring up of gender expectations & all that good stuff. but i find it kind of comforting when i am feeling stressed. when i am feeling really anxious & depressed, i pop a "friends" DVD into my laptop & chill out for a few hours, & i walk away feeling like i was at a spa or something. chick lit serves a similar purpose, but in book form, & i had a hunch that these books were also trying to broadcast something about popular conceptions of modern femininity, motherood, relationships (not just romantic relationships, but also friendship & parent/adult child relationships)...kind of like "sex & the city". i mean, okay, in college, i was a pop culture major. i definitely believe that pop culture exists within a political context, whether it functions as a cognizant political culture tastemaker or not. so what does chick lit say about this political moment, & what is the relationship between those political messages & the publishing industry in general? these are the questions i brought to this book, & i won't pretend that i walked away feeling that much more secure about my secret chick lit-reading habits, but the book contained a lot of food for thought, a lot of interesting ideas, a lot of interesting morsels of info concerning the publishing industry. my middling rating is merely a function of the fact that i can't imagine who i know that would be interested in this topic, besides me.

[Laura Rejón · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading a classic for people investigating about chick-lit. The genre is a little more complicated that most readers think due to its cultural influence and its literary value, the last one constantly questioned. The wide range of topics the genre deals with are explained in the essays of this book referring to almighty classics such as Bridget Jones saga, Sex and the City, Jemina J or Shopaholic. I love the style of each scholar and the content of each essay,which I wish the expand in more books or articles. Definitely this book is part of my favourite chick lit references list

[Courtney Stirrat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really wonderful collection of essays examining the major chick-lit titles and their role in classic and modern literature.