Rewriting the literary tradition : chick lit

• Main Author: Cao, Baoying
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Literature
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/39447
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Much of our study of Literature is concerned with the analysis and interpretation of texts using diverse theories ranging from philosophy to critical theory. As for what fits into the category of ‘literary text,’ there does not appear to be absolute specifications. It seems, in the course of studying literature, that a fair amount of creative license can be undertaken in both the application of particular theories to texts, and in the selection of the texts themselves. In order to cater to the rigors of academia, however, certain guidelines need to be met, thus the need for a syllabi outlining carefully selected readings. That said, a diverse pool of material is drawn from in order to meet the requirements of each syllabus, and almost anything, in the loosest sense of the word, can constitute a ‘literary text,’ with students of the discipline studying sources as disparate as art, music and film, in addition to traditional prose and poetry. What then, qualifies as a literary text? Does, say, a J.K.Rowling novel from the Harry Potter series hold any less weight than Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland? Would an Andy Warhol pop art piece be denounced as child’s play when compared with the epic visual masterpieces of Hieronymus Bosch? The verdict remains open, but the aim of this paper is not to undertake an exhaustive argument on the definition of literary texts. Instead, an attempt will be made to demonstrate the versatility of various theories in application to non-conventional texts.