ABSTRACT
T h e r e a r e f o r m i d a b l e problems facing anyone who tries to evaluate popular literature. The intentions of the writers and the attitudes of the audience are so different to those involved in ^classical’ literature that one cannot condemn it for not coming up to the usual literary standards of plot, character, narrative, and the communication of experience. One cannot condemn Elvis Presley for not being like Gigli. On the other hand it is not enough to judge it by its own standards of keeping the interest of the reader, and using the limited conventions of character and plot to provide maximum enjoyment. One can study pornography by its own standards, but one has always to make it clear what one means by ‘good’ pornography. A valid approach must constantly keep a double vision-does this work succeed in its intentions and func tion in a particular time and for a particular range of readers, and also what is the place of this fiction within the total framework of literary achievement?
