Essay 1: Option 1y: Spin-off from objective 7: Describe and evaluate differences and potential overlap between popular and literary forms of fiction and / or poetry.

Amanda Hanne

 . . . While working in these workshops we found that it was easier to pick out what was literary and what was popular. Most books that are mentioned in newspapers and in book stands are usually popular fiction. On the other hand you have literary fiction that is more of a read because you have to or that you really like classic literature. I was reading through some examples of literary literature and found a passage that said that literary literature is used to provoke thought. I have never thought of literary fiction in this way. When thinking back to other classes and this one all the literary novels that we read or wrote were to provoke thought in our schoolwork. It makes sense why literature teachers teach more literary works than popular. Minot’s book The Three Genres touches on this notion of literary and popular fiction in Chapter 12. Minot says, “Because literary writers require readers who have relatively sophisticated taste and experience, they must often (though not always) be content with a relatively small audience” (153). Minot writes about literary writers and how they do not relate to a big audience and this is because a literary writer writes their novels to just write them. Popular is more on the basis of just reading a book for entertainment. Most popular fiction is based on entertainment and easy to read. . . .