1st Edition
Theorizing Ethnicity and Nationality in the Chick Lit Genre
Scholars and readers alike need little help identifying the infamous Bridget Jones or Carrie Bradshaw. While it is no stretch to say that these fictional characters are the most recognizable within the chic lit genre, there are certainly many others that have helped define this body of work. While previous research has focused primarily on white American chick lit, Theorizing Ethnicity and Nationality in the Chick Lit Genre, takes a wider look at the genre, by exploring chick lit novels featuring protagonists from a variety of ethnic backgrounds set both within and outside of the US.
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction
ERIN HURT
Prologue: A Second Read: Further Reflections on Women of Color Chick Lit
PAMELA BUTLER AND JIGNA DESAI
SECTION 1
CATEGORIES OF CHICK LIT
1 More Than Sex, Shopping and Shoes": Cosmopolitan Indigeneity and Cultural Politics in Anita Heiss’s Koori Lit
LAUREN O’MAHONY
2 Against Asianness: On Being Cool, Feminist, and American in Asian/American Chick Lit
JENNY HEIJUN WILLS
SECTION 2
TEXTS AND TROPES
3 Narratives of Latina Girlhood in Malín Alegría’s Estrella’s Quinceañera and Sofi Mendoza’s Guide to Getting Lost in Mexico
FELICIA SALINAS-MONIZ
4 "I live a fabulous Asian-American life—ask me how!": Kim Wong Keltner Unpacks Contemporary Asian American Female Identity In The Dim Sum Of All Things And Buddha Baby
JENNIFER WOOLSTON
5 The "Aha Moment": Representing Transformation and Black Women’s Trauma in the Chick Lit Genre
CHERISE POLLARD
SECTION 3
DECENTERING WHITENESS
6 Neoliberal Fantasies: Erica Kennedy’s Feminista (2009)
HEIKE MIßLER
7 The White Terry McMillan: Centering Black Women Within Chick Lit’s Genealogy
ERIN HURT
SECTION 4
AUTHORIAL VOICES
8 Writing Chica Lit
LINDA CHAVEZ DOYLE
9 Interview with Kavita Daswani
10 Interview with Kim Wong Keltner
11 Interview with Sofia Quintero
Conclusion: Reading Neoliberal Fairy Tales
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Erin Hurt is an Associate Professor of English at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She has published articles on the work of Alisa Valdes and Sofia Quintero, and her research areas include chica lit, US Latinx and American literatures, and women’s and gender studies.
