Genre, Gender and Novel : A Study of Chick Lit

Abstract

This research studies the emergent genre of novel known as Chick Lit basically by analyzing Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) and Cecelia Ahern’s The Gift (2008). This study explores the idea of chick lit as a genre of new women’s fiction regarding modern womanhood and feminity. The genre has been accused of being frivolous trash with vapid prose that concerns more about ‘chick’ girls. This study claims chick lit as a genre of fiction by, for, and about new women, is concerned with the contemporary serious issues of modern womanhood such as: the issues of career, love, friendship without renouncing family, domesticity and romance. By comparing and contrasting this newly emerging genre with the genre of traditional romance this study also claims that chick lit is a genre of contemporary romance and therefore, popular. In addition, this study makes significant theoretical connection with feminism and post feminism in order to define this struggling genre as a genre of women’s fiction of contemporary time. Furthermore this study provides spaces for expression of new women’s experiences and desires with the opportunities beyond the traditional roles of women as mother, wife and so on. It empowers the women to construct their own gender prioritizing career, choice, female sexuality and self-definition against patriarchal culture. As a whole, this study tries to bring this challenging, often overlooked and dismissed genre, chick lit to the forefronts of other literary genre for its recognition and popularity and define its status in contemporary literary world