Pulp

Brings together chapters on the bestseller, detective fiction, popular romance, science fiction and horror. The text combines an accessible account of the cultural theories that have informed the study of popular fiction, with detailed readings of Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper, Colin Dexter, William Gibson, Stephen King, Iain Banks, Terry McMillan and Walter Mosley. The author argues that popular fiction serves a vital function in the late-20th century: it provides us with the means to construct a workable sense of self in the face of the disorientating pressures of modernity.