The past few years of my life have been spent knee-deep in a literature degree. Countless hours have been dedicated reading and studying literary fiction, from Wilde to Woolf to Joyce. I’ve read the journals of Dorothy Wordsworth and the poetry of her brother, William. Poring over research and formulating theses to turn into essays, literary fiction has consumed me in a manner that genre fiction has been unable to in recent years. That was, until Busybird came into my life around the same time that I began taking a class called ‘Popular Fiction.’
This class aimed to challenge the preexisting standards of the academic setting in which it was housed and posed the question of why popular fiction is often seen as unworthy of being studied in the way that literary fiction is.
Literary fiction is often laden with allusions and language that assumes a mass of existing knowledge, isolating those who can’t engage with these texts. Historically, these people who were isolated were often women, as these literary texts were aimed at an audience of educated, upper-class men, while popular—and often serialised—fiction that lacked these same allusions was relegated to those seen as lesser, relegated to women.
Approaching the topic through a critical lens, ‘Popular Fiction’ drew on genre fiction spanning from 1862 to 2023, including romance, science-fiction, mystery, and fantasy. These texts have allowed generations of readers to experience the wit of Sherlock Holmes, the allure of vampires, and the threat of apocalypse; all from from the safety of their homes. Contrary to literary fiction’s aim to promote deeper consideration of the world in which we live, genre fiction allows, if you so desire, an escape from this world altogether.
This, however, should not allow genre fiction to be discredited. Just because a text explores ideas not of this world does not mean that it does not also speak to the world we know.
Take, for example, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” the first short story in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This story allows Arthur Conan Doyle to explore the way that gender informs, and is informed by, masculinity and femininity. When Irene Adler outsmarts Holmes, the text positions itself as calling into question gendered expectations of the time, placing this popular text in the realm of social commentary, if the reader chooses to engage with it as such.
Although, unlike literary fiction, the story stands on its own without the need to read with a critical lens. It is welcoming and lets the reader in without judgement.
Stepping into the world of Busybird, I felt strongly that authors were given a similar safe space to explore their ideas and challenge themselves to tell the stories that they would want to read. At Busybird, there is value seen in every story, whether it is a family history or a young adult fantasy, and all are treated with the same respect.
As a reader, I have always been familiar with popular fiction. It’s what I first read as a child and what I have continued to read alongside literary texts. As a student, this class was a new world that I was stepping into. Approaching popular fiction with the same regard that institutions give to literary fiction and transferring my critical lens from one to the other challenged my skills of analysis and engagement. It proved that popular fiction can fill not just a market for those seeking entertainment but also one for those seeking a challenge.
Coupling my time in this class with my time at Busybird, it is clear to me that there is undeniable value in telling stories regardless of their supposed esteem. Value not just for readers, but for authors, too.
Jo O’Connell
Editing Intern