Table of Contents

Introduction Part 1: Defining the Field 1. Popular Fiction: The Opposite of Literature? 2. Genre: History, Attitudes, Practice 3. Processing Popular Fiction: Bookshops, Fans, Fanzines and Prozines, Organizations Part 2: Five Popular Novelists 4. (Lo-tech) John Grisham and (Hi-tech) Michael Crichton: Putting the Thriller to Work 5. The Vampire Writes Back: Anne Rice and the (Re)Turn of the Author 6. Jackie Collins, Anti-Romance and the Celebrity Novel 7. J.R.R. Tolkien and Global Terrorism Conclusion Bibliography Index

About the Author

Ken Gelder is a Reader in English at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His books include Reading the Vampire (Routledge 1994) and, with Jane M. Jacobs, Uncanny Australia: Sacredness and Identity in a Postcolonial Nation (Melbourne University Press, 1998). He is co-editor of The Subcultures Reader (1997) and editor of The Horror Reader (2000), both published by Routledge.

Reviews

""This is a book on which other explorations into this vast and largely uncharted territory will build on. Moving from a theoretically sophisticated overview, Gelder engages - closely, uncondescendingly, and entertainingly - with a stimulating range of samples. Most importantly it's enjoyable."
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-John Sutherland, University College London
"With a deceptive ease arising from his familiarity with astonishing range of popular fictions, Gelder breaks new ground in treating popular fiction as a distinctive cultural field with its own logic. The result is a rare combination of clarity and accessibility and challenging insight."
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-Tony Bennett, The Open University