Fielding's best-selling novel for women

Scan the bookshelves of any woman and, more thank likely, you will find a chick lit novel of some kind. We all recognise them for their pastel pink covers, invariably emblazoned with the image of a modern day woman navigating one of life’s hurdles. The works of famous authors such as Helen Fielding or Candace Bushnell will most probably crop up at any mention of the genre. But, despite the popularity of these books, they are shrouded as a guilty pleasure in the literary world; at any hope of sounding well-read and intelligent, their mere mention is usually avoided at all costs. So what is it about this obviously popular genre that puts us off admitting our enjoyment of them? And what is it that makes us label them ‘low brow’?

The genre, although not defined in such terms until more recently, began with novelists such as Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters. Their books focused on the lives of women, and the issues that were relevant to them at the time, in very much the same way that modern day chick lit does today. What was initially placed in the romance section has been re-categorised as chick lit. Austen is usually cited as the influence for the genre, with many of her novels being the inspiration for modern day novels, including Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary. This novel, and its sequel, are largely considered to be the reason for the popularity of this genre, and spurred many other novelists on to write in a similar vein. For the most part, this genre is so popular with women because it relates to the issues that directly relate to them, and them alone. It may sometimes veer into becoming stereotypical, but it does highlight situations that women can connect with, less often seen in other genres.

As with all genres, there will always be the search for good chick lit in amongst a sea of mediocre, or even bad novels. But, somehow, the pressure on authors of this genre to prove themselves in the literary world is far greater than with other categories. Why is it that women need to prove their worth in order to be taken seriously? And, if a light-hearted novel is what you’re after, should you have to justify your needs? Chick lit author Michele Gorman, author of Single in the City explains “there’s no need to fret over the malleable minds of chick-lit fans. Our poor little female brains aren’t going to turn to mush because we read light and breezy books. And it’s not as if women who read chick-lit read it exclusively. Most of us enjoy chocolate cake, but we don’t eat it every night for dinner”. Sometimes, a reader doesn’t necessarily wish to read the most intellectual book on the shelf, in the same way they may choose a vacuous comedy over an intense crime thriller. But we don’t fear for our intellect at times like that, so why so when it comes to the printed word?

It would seem that, despite the fight for equality amongst men and women, men still have the upper hand. In literature, men are still taken more seriously than women. The very term ‘chick lit’ conjures up an onslaught of feminist arguments. It is archaic and screams of a time when it was acceptable to call women “chicks”; it may have been acceptable in the ‘60‘s, but many things have moved on since then, including terminology. Even the term ‘lit‘ offends, as if to dumb that down along with the need for a serious subject matter. But as time has moved on, is it just the title of this genre that has kept it’s crown of anti-feminism, or is the content still keeping within those barriers?

The focus of the majority of chick lit surrounds the same sort of issues that it always has done, such as relationships, careers and body image. But, of late, there have been other issues that have been bought to the fore. Issues such as infidelity, rivalry amongst women, family issues and parenthood are now also being written about; the very fact that these issues are being attended to in literature surely fights against an anti-feminist argument of women‘s issues being neglected? Women are targeted within this genre because it is expected that they will want to read about the subjects that affect them on a daily basis. To make the assumption that women’s issues and interests are trivial and unnecessary is offensive, and only fuels the argument against women’s literature.

Don't judge a book by its cover...?

However, the term chick lit is an umbrella term that encapsulates the more serious side of female lives as well as the more frothy storylines we associate with the genre. In Europe, there have been a host of female authors who have published books that deal with issues such as addiction or personality complexes, a far cry from the novels of Sophie Kinsella or Marian Keyes. Hungarian writer Zsuzsa Racz’s Stop, Mamma Teresa deals with the relationship difficulties of its lead character, while she copes with her recovering drug addict sibling, living in a rundown neighbourhood in Budapest and her problem of trying to help everyone she meets. Similiarly, Polish writer Malgorzata Warda’s novel Never to Paris is set around four women‘s lives, with a subplot of murder and rape. Because these novels are written by women and are about women, they immediately fall into the chick lit genre. But, with subject matters heading into more serious territory, surely this genre is a label too quickly applied.

The opinion of chick lit is that the use of humour lessens the impact of the representation of issues. When a male writer describes a situation with wit and a sardonic tone, he is applauded for his satirical style. But when a woman applies the same approach, she is dismissed as being low brow and undemanding of any serious attention; why is there such a double standard when it comes to gender and literature? Take, for example, the writer Nicholas Sparks who is the author of The Notebook; his novels are branded as romance. Yet, writer Cecelia Ahern, who wrote PS, I Love You is labelled as chick lit, despite the very similar tone to each of their books. There are many talented writers of literature targeting women, but much of it is instantly stereotyped as light hearted fodder due to its subject matter and therefore not given the attention it deserves. The term chick lit has been used to stigmatise many novels that focus on a certain group of issues, purely because they happen to be written by women. No other genre suffers this sort of denigration; writers of sci-fi, horror or biographical novels needn’t worry about their gender as they approach publication, yet female writers of comedy or romance risk slander because of their sex.

The phenomenon of women’s literature has often been described as simply a marketing ploy, hoping to surf along on the success of books such as Sex and the City. But, the genre displays validity through it’s portrayal of issues and topics in an articulate and often humorous way. These subjects have progressed, as women have, over time in order to stay relevant. But, the majority of books still follow the same formula; perhaps it is simply a case of sticking to what works in order to remain successful. The genre remains popular amongst women and provides a source of identity in which to relate to, be it with humour or otherwise.