popular literature
popular literature, any written work that is read, or is intended to be read, by a mass audience. In its broadest sense, popular literature may include best-selling nonfiction books, widely circulated periodicals, and certain kinds of digital texts. However, the term is typically used to refer to works of fiction that are distinguished from what is often called high literature, artistic literature, or simply literature. Since the late 20th century, works of popular fiction have often been classified as genre fiction and their purported opposite as literary fiction.
Characteristics
The categorical boundaries of popular literature are not strict, and the classification of specific works may change over time. While books that sell in large quantities and appear on bestseller lists are by definition popular, sales figures alone are insufficient criteria for a work to be regarded as popular literature. Many works of literary fiction have become bestsellers, just as many works of genre fiction have failed to find an audience. In addition, literary distinction is often awarded to works that have “stood the test of time,” by transcending the context of their initial reception, but such an assessment cannot be made until long after the work’s publication. For instance, William Shakespeare’s plays were considered popular literature in their day but are now widely recognized as artistic works.
Nevertheless, some common attributes of popular literature have been defined. First, it is crafted primarily to entertain the reader, as entertainment is a quality that attracts and appeals to a wide audience. To promote a pleasurable reading experience, works of popular fiction are usually written in a simple and straightforward style. They are largely plot-driven, rather than character-driven, and adhere to conventional narrative structures. As such, they are intended less to provoke deep reflection or aesthetic appreciation than to be read casually and quickly. Books that are successful at this aim, especially through their employment of techniques that stimulate readers’ interest and compel them to continue reading, are praised as “page-turners.”
While literary fiction is frequently rooted in the realities of everyday life, popular fiction tends toward escapism. Works can often be categorized in any of a number of popular escapist genres, such as romance, mystery, thriller, science fiction, or horror. Although much creativity can be found within the boundaries of genres, they are defined by specific narrative tropes or archetypes that are familiar to readers. As American literary theorist Fredric Jameson observed, “Genres are essentially contracts between a writer and his readers”; that is, they create and fulfill the reader’s expectations.
Another major characteristic of popular literature is that it is inexorably connected to and shaped by commercial forces. A work cannot attract a large readership unless it is materially accessible to readers; it must be both prevalent and affordable. Works of popular literature are therefore reliant on the processes of mass production, marketing, and distribution that take place within publishing and related industries. As a consequence, authors are also influenced by commercial considerations in the writing of such works, crafting them not only to be abstractly appealing but also to satisfy current market demands.
Within this context, authors’ productivity is prioritized over the intrinsic artistic quality of their work. Many successful authors of popular fiction are extraordinarily prolific, publishing one or more books per year and producing multiple sequels and series that enable them to maintain and expand a devoted readership. Further commercial value may be generated through the adaptation of popular books for film, television, and other media and their associated potential for branding and merchandising. Indeed, popular literature is often best understood within the broad landscape of popular culture, not only as a matter of economics but also because a work’s intertextual relationships, such as its adaptations, affect its perceptions and interpretations.
History
Only after the development of the printing press was it possible to produce literature that could achieve a significant measure of popularity in its written form. The earliest examples in Europe, from the 15th century, include works that drew on folklore and oral traditions, such as broadside ballads, jestbooks (joke books), romance narratives, and almanacs. Even then the popularity of these texts was limited by low literacy rates throughout the world. By the late 17th century, however, literacy had advanced in England, France, and other parts of northwestern Europe such that printers could profit from manufacturing a variety of cheap publications, often in the form of chapbooks, to be peddled from town to town.
Over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, the spread of elementary education for the middle and lower classes brought about a more expansive reading public. Additionally, the Industrial Revolution made published works more widely accessible through the development of mass-production technologies and improved systems of transportation and communication. During this time, fiction became increasingly important within the literary landscape. The novel emerged as a popular form, especially for middle-class readers, who acquired books from urban bookstalls and circulating libraries. Fiction was also serialized in newspapers and magazines, which had rapidly proliferated. In the late 19th century, young working-class readers devoured sensational tales of crime and adventure in the form of penny dreadfuls in Great Britain and dime novels in the United States.
Many of the genres by which popular fiction is now categorized had developed by the turn of the 20th century. By the middle of the century, genre labels had become codified by the publishing industry as a marketing tool, exemplified by divided sections within bookstores. Popular fiction was frequently sold as paperback books, which had become a profitable trade owing to advances in printing. As new media technologies fueled the growth of the entertainment industry, best-selling books became fertile fodder for film and television adaptations. At the same time, a distinction widened between popular fiction and what became known as literary fiction. Modernist writers and their followers self-consciously distanced themselves from mass tastes, and the growing study of literature within the academy reinforced this stratification through its formation of literary canons.
In the early 21st century, digital publishing provided new venues for authors of popular literature, as works could easily be disseminated outside of traditional channels. (One notable example is fan fiction, which is based on existing fictional characters but is unauthorized by their original creator or publisher.) E-reading devices, which allow readers to move quickly from one title to the next, have become a common choice for consuming genre fiction. As popular fiction continues to influence popular culture at large, some writers of literary fiction draw inspiration from genre conventions.