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Potboilers : Methods, Concepts and Case Studies in Popular Fiction - Jerry Palmer

Potboilers

Methods, Concepts and Case Studies in Popular Fiction

By: Jerry Palmer

Hardcover | 5 December 1991 | Edition Number 1

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Why is popular fiction loved by many and yet studied by few? Why is it despised by those who study "high culture"?
Popular narrative has not traditionally been well-regarded in academic institutions (the clearest expression of this disregard is silence.) "Potboilers" is an introduction to the main methods available for the analysis of popular fiction, regardless of the medium in which it appears. Popular fiction cannot be analyzed using the methods developed for understanding "literature," therefore new methods are essential.
"Potboilers" looks at the many forms of popular narrative in print, film, and television, and considers the ways they have been analyzed in literary criticism, sociology, communications, and media and cultural studies.
Jerry Palmer introduces and summarizes two decades of debate about mass-produced fictions and their position within popular culture. He focuses on both narrative analysis and the communications process, exploring generic conventions, the role of commercial strategies, and the nature of the audience with reference to crime fiction, soap opera, romance novel, and sitcom.
The analysis of the debates surrounding popular fiction gives a clear account of existing work and provides an invaluable guide for students and teachers of literature, communications, media, and cultural studies.
Industry Reviews
..."readable, flowing book.... the theories discussed in depth in the first part, interesting enough in their own right, are concerned with traditional literary and filmic narratives. Most of the case studies in the second part, however, are taken from contemporary genres... two theoretical chapters... are highly relevant-- the one debating the relationship between popular culture and ideology... and the one concerned with definitions of genre.." -"Semiotica

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