Chick lit fiction and its cultural variations a comparative study of selected British American and Indian novels

Abstract

My research work introduces Chick Lit as a genre under popular fiction and discusses its brief history and emergence in a larger context of popular culture. It examines the Chick Lit genre as a new entrant in the field of popular fiction. The purpose of my research work has been to analyze the cultural variations of Chick Lit fiction by working on selected British, American and Indian Chick Lit novels and underline the varieties of cultural experiences expressed and disseminated through them. The primary sources include the novels of British writers Sophie Kinsella and Helen Fielding, American writers Lauren Weisberger and Candace Bushnell, and Indian writers Advaita Kala and Swati Kaushal. In each chapter, Chick Lit has been approached in a different way by selecting a culture specific practice. From the beginning to the end, The Myth of Beauty , The Myth of Individual Freedom , The Myth of Arranged Marriage , and cultural variations have been analyzed. The research has been conducted by employing insights from scholars and writers who have made considerable contribution in the field of Chick Lit as well as post feminist theories such as Stephen Harzewski, Ferriss and Young, Smith, Sarah Gamble, Judith Wells, and other. The outcome of the study is that Chick Lit is a heterogeneous genre dealing with various aspects of the lives of women. newline