PROTEAN FEMININITIES: SHIFTING STEREOTYPES IN ‘CHICK LIT’
PROTEAN FEMININITIES: SHIFTING STEREOTYPES IN ‘CHICK LIT’

Summary/Abstract: "It is the main assumption of this paper that there has been a shift in terms of paradigms generated and negotiated in gender studies, – as apparent in recent literary products, often bestsellers over the last two decades, that have generated new types of characters, indeed novel taxonomies and a new genre, chick lit’ *, literature for girls. Ambivalently acclaimed by criticism, these novels have attracted a faithful readership, as sociological research to date convincingly shows (see, Wallace:1989). Indeed, there is compelling evidence that the addressability of such literary productions, straddles, quite uncannily, categories and taxonomies, ranging from housewives (plus/minus desperate) to upwardly-mobile career-women. A parallel between the – stagnant – addressability of, say, soaps, vs. chick lit is food for thought " [...]

• Details
• Contents