Popular Fiction

This essential guide provides a comprehensive exploration of popular fiction as a serious cultural field, moving beyond literary snobbery to examine the genre on its own terms. Gelder masterfully connects bestsellers, genre fiction, and mass-market entertainment to the industrial systems that produce and distribute them, offering readers a critical framework for understanding everything from airport novels to blockbuster book adaptations. The analysis is both accessible and intellectually rigorous, making complex cultural theory feel immediately relevant to the stories that dominate our shelves and screens.

What makes this work stand out is its refusal to treat popular fiction as mere guilty pleasure, instead positioning it as a powerful force shaped by market logic and reader desire. Teen readers and young adults immersed in contemporary book culture will find it particularly illuminating, as it provides the vocabulary to critically engage with the very publishing trends and entertainment ecosystems they navigate daily. This book fundamentally changes how you see the stories that captivate mass audiences, transforming casual reading into a deeper cultural practice.