Like the title of the post? Yeah, it’s extreme and a bit dramatic. It came to mind while I was reading this article by Melanie La’Brooy concerning chick lit and the amount of anger and derision that seems to be heaped upon it these days. La’Brooy is the author of Romantic Fiction and Love Struck.
She’s clearly fed up. She tells the story of what someone she knew did with one of her books:
Then an acquaintance boarded the plane. Torn between fidelity and the desire to keep his highbrow literary reputation intact, he didn’t hesitate: Love Struck was shoved unceremoniously into an air-sickness bag, where it remained throughout the flight.
She ties the attitude not just to literary folks who believe chick lit is beneath them and worthy only of contempt, but also to feelings on feminism:
This story neatly illustrates an apparently prevalent view as to where all chick lit belongs. Yet critical contempt for this newly emerged genre seems to have less to do with its quality of writing than with the perceived politics and nature of the genre. In 1998, Time magazine asked “Is Feminism Dead?” before concluding it was, with specific reference to the popularity of Bridget Jones’s Diary. In Britain, renowned writers such as Beryl Bainbridge have condemned the writing and reading of chick lit as a waste of time. Doris Lessing has referred to “instantly forgettable books” and regretted that “it’s a pity that so many young women are writing like that”.
An interesting article for those looking for something non-holiday related.
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I just can’t figure out why it brings out such passion in people. It obviously has a market or the books wouldn’t be on the shelves. (shaking head)
by Jordan December 15th, 2005 at 3:39 pmYou’re baaa-aack…
by Wendy December 15th, 2005 at 7:38 pmIt would appear the site is back up and running for now…damn spammers.
I agree, Jordan. The vitriolic reaction is both overblown and silly. Everyone seems to be protesting too much. You don’t like it – fine. Just say that. Don’t blame it for all of society’s ills. Enough of the if-you-write-chick-lit-you-must-be-a-sucky-writer thing.
by HelenKay December 15th, 2005 at 8:40 pmWlecome back.
Is tehre a reason Paperback Reader isn’t showing recent posts? it seems to have regressed a week or so.
by Nicole December 16th, 2005 at 4:22 pmHi Nicole – Paperback Reader has had its own server issues. PBR finds its home on Typepad (my blog is on Wordpress). The way I understand it, Typepad has suffered some sort of catastrophic failure. The techie folks there are working on it but, as of now, have only been able to recover up through a few days ago. Our last two reviews are missing. The worst part about this is that Kassia’s review is gone and it was a really good review and worth a look for sure. I’m hoping it’s back soon.
This whole thing is very frustrating. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. We’re all hoping Typepad gets everything back up and running soon. The plan is to post our next review on Sunday morning. If you don’t see it, know that Typepad still is on the fritz and we’ll post as soon as we can.
by HelenKay December 16th, 2005 at 10:45 pmAh. Gotcha. Thanks for letting me know, though.
And I really should’ve checked my spelling on that last post. Oi!
by Nicole December 17th, 2005 at 10:50 am