Adventure, Mystery & Romance: Formula Stories in Art & Popular Culture - Phoenix Book Series | Literary Analysis, Cultural Studies & Fiction Writing Inspiration

This fascinating, engaging, and insightful book examines "formulaic" genres of literature. The early chapters focus on the generalized readers' experience -- the appeal of works of fiction that provide a seemingly paradoxical combination of pleasures: on the one hand an adventure-filled escape from mundane everyday life, and on the other hand the security and comfort of a familiar structure and a predictable outcome. In his introduction, Cawelti charmingly compares the experience to that of a young child's bedtime story:"As children we learn new things about the world and ourselves from stories. By hearing about creatures and events that transcend the limits of space and time allotted to us we widen the range of our imagination and are prepared to deal with new situations and experiences. But children also clutch at the security of the familiar. How often a child rejects a new story, preferring to hear one he has already been told a hundred times. And as he hears again the often-heard, his eyes glaze over with pleasure, his body relaxes, and, the story ends in peaceful slumber."Most of the book examines several formulaic genres in detail: The classic detective story, the hard-boiled detective story, the western, and "the best-selling social melodrama" (think Jacqueline Susann, etc.). In addition to taking an overall look at these genres, several authors and novels are analyzed in greater detail. Cawelti gives us insights into how a number of novels fit into their particular genre, into the world of literature in general, and into their contemporary culture. I found his examinations of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler particularly interesting, but all of the "analytic criticism" to be found in the book was cogent, informative, and just plain enjoyable reading.And indeed, this book as a whole should be enjoyable reading for anyone who's interested in formulaic genre fiction, or literature and fiction in general. Through the study of this branch of fiction, one can't help but be enlightened about all the rest of literature as well; after all, isn't literary fiction largely defined by what it is NOT -- by its avoidance of much of what genre fiction embraces?I would also recommend this book to any author who writes or is thinking of writing within the genres that Cawelti covers. In this book you'll find some remarkably clear analyses of the "formulas" of the formulaic genres -- what fans of the genre expect and what it is about the genre that they find appealing. Cawelti compares the author of formulaic fiction to the cast and director of a new production of a familiar play; a certain degree of creativity and originality is expected, but a writer who violates certain key elements of the formula is likely to disappoint his/her target audience as much as a director who decides to rewrite Oscar Wilde's dialog.So in sum, if anyone has ever asked you "Why do you read that trash?", here's a book you can proudly throw at them -- literally, if you like. For another excellent and equally throwable book on this subject, see An Aesthetics of Junk Fiction by Thomas J. Roberts .