Instructor: Nandini Chandra
Email: nc8@hawaii.edu
MW: 12:00-1:15 PM, BUSAD D 102
ENG 271: “Chicklit” and Commodity Fetishism
The traditional female romance which has dominated much of twentieth century pop-fiction was about women finding temporary respite in the realm of sensuous romance, away from the conventional roles of wife, mother and daughter. At the end of the romance, however, the female heroine was ironically better prepared for these very same caregiving roles by having secured her one great love. “Chicklit” is a dramatic departure from the high-stakes of the “romance” to the self-deprecating humor and reflexivity—expressive in the title itself—of women breaking with the linearity of reproductive roles and care-giving, and turning to their careers and shopping to meet all their libidinal requirements. The existence of men in their lives is equivalent to desired objects of shopping, or perhaps, a notch lower than these commodities. The genre thus combines unapologetic girlishness and girl power, validating female lives and friendships, but continuing very much within a heterosexual paradigm. At the same time, it evokes the crisis of the single woman in terms of the dilemma of entering the corporate job market precisely at a moment when the family is not available to absorb the strains and shocks of this new labor regime. The single woman protagonist of the “chicklit” cannot expect her family to bail her out financially, even as there is a longing to overcome familial alienation.
The course will focus on the way the genre mediates women’s subjectivities in terms of the language of choice and consumption. It will introduce students to the concepts of social reproduction, commodity fetishism, and post-feminism among others. We will study the genre’s literary precedents (the novel of manners and popular romance), its ethnic variants (African American, Australian Aboriginal, Brooklyn Jewish), and the way it transforms over the two decades of its existence.
Required Readings and Viewings:
Terry Mcmillan (1992). Waiting to Exhale
Sophie Kinsella (1997). Confessions of a Shopaholic
Sharon Maguire (2001). Bridget Jones’s Diary (97 mins)
Anita Heiss (2007). Avoiding Mr. Right
Gillian Robespierre (2014). Obvious Child (90 mins)
Assignments
Oral Presentation (20 points)
Response Papers to Class Prompts (20 points: 4×5 points)
Critical summary of a concept relevant to the course (20 points)
An abstract proposal for the final paper that will be workshopped in class (15 points)
Argument-Based Final Paper (25 points)