Since the dawn of human civilization, to entertain people has been one of the prime functions of literature. In each ancient civilization, albeit geographically cut off from one another, literature virtually developed simultaneously. In the early form of literature i.e. oral literature, people loved to listen to storytellers who praised the war deeds of their heroes. Gradually literature evolved different forms and approaches such as epic, lyric, sonnet, drama, novel, essay etc. Today literature has proliferated many forms to address the people around the world. And the literary forms today exist could still be lengthened in future by the literary artists.
In the beginning of the twentieth century the spread of literacy through education coupled with the development of printing technology resulted into a huge surge in the number of literary readers and the growing literary demand of these readers was satisfied by popular literature. Today, among the various forms of literature, and especially in contrast to high literature, popular literature has acquired an unprecedented access to the people across the world.
Popular literature is literature which is available to the masses and has wide spread appeal. Popular literature is the literature of the people. The purpose of popular literature is to inform and entertain the general public. It also caters to the taste of the people of a particular time and covers a variety of public interest and deals with simple, compelling and popular topics. Such literature encompasses fundamentally simple emotional and intellectual content in a basic mythological structure. (Frye 361)
Unlike serious and intellectual literature, popular literature transmutes archetypes into the literary idioms of a particular time and place and provides a good index to views widely shared within a society during the period of popularity.
Generally, the term popular literature signifies literature which is popular in an immediate period after publication and, though widely read, it is quickly forgotten. It does not appeal to the society as a whole but a selected section of society is impressed upon that shares a common interest. The nineteenth and twentieth century saw a rise in such segments which had become large enough to provide the incentive of lucrative markets. There is an emergence of adventure story, detective story, fantasy, campus novel, popular romances, science fiction to name a few genres that stretch the simple emotional content and its framework to the intended readership. This sort of literature targets an immediate audience. The works which fall under this genre are often unsophisticated in a conventional notion as the authors handle only essential material.
Works like Aesop’s fables, a collection which bears the name of a Greek slave of the sixteen century; Arabian Nights which contains oriental stories of diverse origin; The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel, a saga of folk origin in mediaeval Ireland; and saga of medieval Ireland as represented by Grimms or imitated by Hans Christian Anderson to quote some, are widely considered as popular texts though all of these are considerably separated in time and place. These texts vary in matter and style but there is one common feature and that is all these works belongs to the field of popular literature having lasting popularity.
The term popular is employed here in technical sense and does not have casual reference to vogue popularity in the common sense. Popular works, in the stricter of the term, are anonymous and are held to be product of many successive authors. Popular literature, in fact literature as a whole, emerged as folk tales and folk songs during primitive times and it was transmitted to the people in oral form. It was a representative of wisdom and belief. (361)
However, as the time passed, societies became more advanced and sophisticates as well as literate and the transmission took the form of manuscript first and then, with the invention of printing press by Caxton, that of print. They commonly passed through a long period of oral transmission before being committed to writing and, they are consequently cast in a conventional or traditional, rather than an individual, style and form.
It is not known with certainty the exact nature and extent of popular composition because the evidence is scattered. In the case of the ballad presenting the dancing, singing throng, the process of communal authorship can sometimes be observed. However, it is doubtful if prose tales have any such opportunity that ever existed for collective composition. In the Anglo Sexon epic Beowulf, evidence of high order of a single poet and even in the Arabian Nights, one may suspect that the style and structure were largely modelled by a single writer. This shows that popular works may or may not be a collective composition.
There are many works in literature which are now a part of public property and are widely loved and admired by people despite the fact that people may not be sure about the authorship of the works. Therefore, it may be understood that popular literature has distinct characteristic of being able to stand on its merit without having the name of the author.
Popular literature was conspicuous due to its inability to find a place in literary or academic collections a few generations ago. Even so, in earlier period, and especially in those when classical standards prevailed, the study of literature meant primarily the study of great masterpieces of poetry, philosophy or oratory, and art criticism consisted largely in the deduction of rules and standards from such models. If the men of letters noticed the product of the people, then these were perhaps judged by formal standards or were treated with a certain disdain. We can cite the example of Addison who praised the ballad of Chevy Chase for conforming in great measure to the narrative method of Aneid.
From the 18th and 19th century, wide interest and growth of popular literature is in evidence. In more recent times, the spirit of criticism has changed and the critics have started praising popular products. The part of the people in composition is magnified. The renewed admiration for popular literature in its highest forms brought an enthusiastic interest in all minor products of popular or semi popular composition. A vast number of critics and scholars have investigations of folk songs and folk tales in every corner of the world. This turn has given popular literature a new recognition in recent times.
Writers of popular fiction or bestseller earn bread easily as compared to other writers. There are many writers whose works have literary flare and a sociological vision. Nevertheless, there persists this opinion that popular literature has no merits, partly because it is generic and popular. Popular art is the collective product of modern culture though its popularity seems to suggest many that it may not really be art. The argument is that if it is an art, it would not appeal so many people.
Popular appeal has always come to be identified with what is current as it seems to happen in case of film song. Be that as it may, there is no gainsaying the fact that the possibility of novels appealing to wider audience does not have anything to do with popular taste. It is clear that novels (which is basically understood as fiction) of this kind identify and satisfy the literary taste of vast number of people.
Though popular literature has not occupied dignified place in the history of literature, it has its visible influence on the more sophisticated forms of literature. The ancient epics and dramas were influenced by popular tales of God, superheroes and personalities. For example, the Arabian Nights supplied material to literature in the middle Ages. In the last century poets too have found a rich storehouse in the tradition of days of Good Haroun Alraschid.
The folk tales of Northern Europe have been a source of much lofty poets and romancers. The splendid romances of King Arthur have derived many of their essential elements from popular sagas. The original stories were often disguised beyond easy recognition in the hands of court poets or polite romancers. Their motions were changed and they were transformed to the setting of higher civilization. The chief results of the critical scholarship of the last hundred years have been to show the highest products of literary art were derived from simple elements popular tradition.
In recent centuries, popular literature has emerged as one of the dominant literatures whose central objective is to entertain people. Many individual authors have achieved unprecedented success worldwide in the recent years. Nevertheless, contemporary literary culture is built on a paradox: “that which is most people read is that which critics value least”. The novels of Dane Brown, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, JK Rowling, Paulo Coelho and many have attracted many more readers than the winners of prestigious such as IMPAC or Man Booker. When the readers asked to name their favorite books in a recent BBC poll, they placed William Golding’s Lord of the Rings Number 1. Yet such popular literature receives little critical attention, and wins few major prizes.
It is difficult to say with fair degree of certainty as to whether it is the verdict of the large number of readers that should be counted or that of a smaller number of critics. With the mass production of such literature, especially popular fiction in the post modern era, the dividing line between popular and literary seems weakening. Popular products are now considered literary in post modern era as many critics weight readers’ opinion over critics.
Popular literature is a printed extension of folk tales, ballads and myth. In printed version popular literature is available in various genres. The various genres of popular literature are:
The term "Popular Fiction" has several uses and interpretations. The word “popular” is applied to something that is widespread and well-liked by many people. It is also used to distinguish high and popular culture, to describe a culture made by the people for themselves, to mean the mass media imposed on people by commercial interest. What is initially understood from this is that popular fiction is novels, which are well-liked and read by large number of people and sold out with enormous quantity. (Characteristics of Popular Fiction)
In terms of literary product popular fiction is considered as “Opposite of Literature". Popular fiction is defined as a field separate and distinct from literary fiction whose main goal is entertainment and industry. The field is considered as “a general field of writing" different from to the quality literary works written by such writers as George Elliot, Henry James, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Flannery O'Connor, Vladimir Nabokov, Tobias Wolff and so on, The masterpieces written by these writers deploy ‘a set of logics and practices that are different in kind to those deployed in the field of popular fiction. In other words, literary fictions writer use "tangled plots" and "intense formal artistry" and focuses on discourses of originality and creativity. On the other hand popular fiction is "a kind of industrial practice" and its "writers" use the "language of industry" instead "the language of art world". Another trait that distinguishes popular fiction from literary one is their aims; while literary fiction's primary goal is the self-expression of an author, the primary focus of popular fiction is its readers. (Gelder 139-141)
Any discussion involving popular literature or popular fiction invariably involves discussion on reading public because readers play crucial role in the development of popular fiction since the success of popular fiction in the market depends on readers and their interest, especially in the world where more and more people are reading for pleasure. At this point, popular fiction has its merit and it is by no means negligible. Popular fiction is the "first rate story teller" since each story tells a tale, which is the reflection of ordinary readers' desire or experience and it has ability to touch readers' compassion and understanding.
Readers choose popular fiction works for delightful and lazy day reading at the beach or at the park, at mountain camp site or enjoyed long journey. For such a delicious interlude they prefer the books which have a vivid and exciting plot, lots of sensory imagery, and one or two engaging characters. Generally such books are referred casually as Beach Reading or Escape Reading. Even book lovers of all stripes keep more popular books in their bags and personal library though their primary interest is difficult and sophisticated literary books. This contradiction makes the concept of popular fiction difficult to narrate. Jane Austin was one of the most widely-read authors. Her Pride and Prejudice has been read and appreciated as popular fiction by many people. But on the contrary, this book is also considered "literary" and is not counted as a piece of popular fiction. Same contrast is observed with Mary Shelley's Monster and the Frankenstein. They are among the most popular books of all time in terms of overall readership and movie adaptation. Both the books are considered popular fictions. And yet, Shelley was a serious writer, and these stories are an acknowledged literary masterpiece in many ways (Luesebrink). These examples demonstrate that popular fiction does not necessarily mean "junk" fiction or badly written prose. On the contrary, much of the literature that we have loved over the years is truly fine fiction and contains excellent writing. Of course, there are thousands of pieces of fiction that were once popular at a particular point of time and then vanished but key pieces of popular fiction are still both fun to read and important to literary study.
There are different terms used for fiction which is written or produced for mass. The terms like popular fiction, junk fiction, genre fiction, pulp fiction, commercial fiction and mass market fiction are used for such fiction. The question which arises is that why the terms “popular fiction” and “genre fiction” are more preferable than other terms mentioned earlier. The terms like junk fiction, pulp fiction, commercial fiction and mass market fiction are business or marketing categories which are least concern with quality and inherent philosophical interest. In case of genre fiction and popular fiction it is also a fact that though they are co-extensive, all genre fiction works cannot be called popular and all popular fictions cannot be genre fiction. Both are conceptually different. Majority of popular fiction works fall into recognizable genres like romance, horror, mystery, fantasy and science fiction. Every work which is published as popular fiction may trivially falls under some genre. Moreover fiction itself may be counted as genre. There are also list of popular fiction works which are very difficult to place in some genre or other yet have the elements of different genres. So the writer of the popular fiction use genre as recognized standard by means of which he/she aims to wide popularity and readership.
In general terms, popular fiction works are categorized as "genre" works. The novels which fit the criteria of horror, crime, detective, romance, western, science fiction, or fantasy, are usually included in popular fiction.
The popular fictions are divided into various genres according to style, theme and content. During the early part of the 20th century there were no such divisions. All popular fictions were categorized as romance or fictions meant exclusively for women. After 1920 new and exciting themes started to emerge which made categorization necessary for publishers. But initially it did not put any considerable impact on readers and publishers. The critics were still not interested in popular fiction. A fully fledged categories of popular fiction emerged in 1960 which led to dedicated readership of genres like women’s romance and science fiction. These genres became more prevalent when paperbacks began which took them to bookshelves. The consumption was accelerated after this new categorization of popular fiction. Other genres like crime fiction, detective stories, fantasy and horrors also started to attract dedicated readers.
The term Genre fiction is used for works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal readers and fans already familiar with that genre. (Genre Fiction) In today’s fictional world genre is an elastic term used for a group of works such as mystery, romance, or horror which shares similarities of character, theme, and setting. Such works appeal to particular groups of readers and continuously evolve, divide, and combine as the taste of reading public keeps changing. Classic romance novels, such as those written by Jane Austen in the nineteenth century, continue to enjoy popularity today in the form of both books and movies.
The genre fiction or popular fiction enjoyed full bloom in the 19th and 20th century. This was the time when increase in literacy and decrease in printing cost made books available to middle-and-lower-class readers. But the phenomena of popular stories, genre literature is not new. It goes back to the earliest folk tales. We think of "Tarzan", a popular hero as the creation of the 20th Century but the concept of the "wild man of the forest" is found in tales from our earliest beginnings. Enkidu, the friend of Gilgamesh (in the epic tale of Gilgamesh), was a rough and wild outsider, brought up in the forest. So these are the ancient stories which engage the attention of many people over time and continue to inspire popular literature today and tomorrow. Romances, adventures, ghosts and monsters and crimes have always fascinated the readers over the time.
Popular fiction or Literature became more prominent with the flowering of American literature. Also, after 1900, a wider readership and better distribution of books encouraged the recognition of even more new movements, genres, and writers. Popular Fiction which was published and widely read in the 19th Century becomes a world unto itself in the 20th Century. During the 20th Century, the growth of readership and genres in popular literature remains unprecedented. The ratio of sales told it all: Popular Literature comprised almost 90 % of the market for fiction. Literary fiction was relegated to about 5% of the sales. (Luesebrink)
Popular fiction which is primarily genre fiction restricts its themes to the requirements of the genre but in recent times several important themes have surfaced in popular fiction. Current concern and trends to be found in literary fiction have become prominent part of popular fiction. In the 20th century distinction between popular and literary blurred because during the time popular fiction stated addressing issues of classic literature. Critics started attempting to find out what moves us, what attract us, what change us, not in fiction of great depth but in fiction of varied surfaces. Issues of classical literature like what is becoming, what is beautiful, what is honourable, what is noble, what is generous now become part of the fiction. (Messenger 22) A vast number of critic and scholars started devoting themselves to find what is true: what reasons tells or what our heart tells is true because this is an important parameter when we try to pass a judgment on popular fiction works.
In the 20th century the writers and readers of popular fiction have increased demographically as compare to previous centuries. With the coming of online markets the unprecedented increase in the selling of popular fiction or genre fiction can be noticed. Due to online selling of books, thousands of online reviews are available nowadays on the same book. Study of thousands of readers’ reviews on bestselling fiction on various online market places suggests that bestselling fictions:
These characteristics are also reasons for the popularity of popular fiction.
Both popular fiction and serious fiction have their own appeal and the lines between them are becoming increasingly blurred. Now is the time when publishers, booksellers and readers have stopped thinking in such narrow, genre base terms and learned to appreciate quality, no matter what form it comes in.
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