ABSTRACT
Contemporary women’s bestselling fiction has either been ignored or attacked by both the traditional literary establishment and women scholars. Despite growing interest in the subject, a certain amount of hostility exists among some feminist critics who attack the novels as ideologically incorrect and supportive of traditional patriarchal values. Paris represents escape and romance, just as London is the city of an aristocracy which so fascinates Americans bred on democracy. From the other side of the Atlantic, the United States beckons to many French women as the land where so much more is permissible. New York represents the New World where all is possible: ambition, success, advancement. Popular women’s fiction has come under attack for a number of reasons. For one, popular culture specialists raise the issue of the passive consumption by women of mass-culture products which present women with negative role models. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
