Pop literature
Pop literature is a literary sub-genre derived from the broader genre called postmodern. The term first appeared in Portuguese and was originally used by Brazilian writer Evelina Hoisel in her book Supercaos: os estilhaços da cultura em Panamérica e Nações Unidas [Superchaos: the splinters of culture in PanAmérica and Nações Unidas],[1] released in 1980 and republished in 2014. The term was later expanded by Décio Torres Cruz in his books O pop: Literatura, mídia e outras artes (2003, republished in 2013) [Pop: Literature, media and other arts][2] and The Cinematic Novel and Postmodern Pop Fiction: The Case of Manuel Puig (2019).[3]
Definition
Pop literature appears as a literary typology in the sixties very much connected to the counter-culture movements of the period. As a sub-genre of the postmodern, pop literature inherits most of its characteristics, such as metafiction, open-endness, fragmentation of characters and fictional structure, etc. As defined by Cruz, pop literature is a type of literature based on the products of mass media, which "borrows the elements and techniques from both cinema and Pop Art in order to construct cinematic narratives." According to this author, Walter Benjamin's idea of loss of "authenticity introduced by mechanical reproduction has contributed to the way postmodern pop literature established itself." As a consequence, "postmodern pop literature creates multimedia effects by borrowing techniques from several sources and by reusing tradition and adding new meanings to it through collage."[4] In its origin, pop literature was closely linked to Pop Art in its subversive nature and style, to the avant-garde movements of the sixties, and also to the cinematic feature found in some novels and in Pop Art itself. With its precursors in Baudelaire and Whitman, according to Cruz, the genre starts and consolidates itself in the sixties, reflects the worldview of the period, but moves on through the following decades until it reaches the new millenium.
Some writers of pop fiction
There is a wide range of authors that may be classified under this postmodern sub-genre. The first author to have used this writing style, according to Hoisel, is the Brazilian writer named José Agrippino de Paula in his novel PanAmérica (1967), later followed by Roberto Drummond in his novel A morte de D.J. in Paris [D.J.'s death in Paris]. Besides these writers, Cruz expanded the list and included The Beatles' book Yellow Submarine (1968)[5] and several other writers from different parts of the world followed suit in the seventies and eighties with some of their works: Donald Barthelme (USA),[6] Italo Calvino (Italy; Cuba),[7] Cabrera Infante (Cuba),[8]Julio Cortázar and Manuel Puig[9](Argentina), Antonio Torres,[10] Caio Fernando Abreu, Rogério Menezes and W. J. Solha (Brazil), and Beth Goobie (Canada).
References
- ^ Hoisel, Evelina. Supercaos: os estilhaços da cultura em Panamérica e Nações Unidas. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira,1980.
- ^ Cruz, Décio. O pop: Literatura, mídia e outras artes. Sakvador: Quarteto; EDUNEB, 2003.
- ^ Torres Cruz, Decio. The Cinematic Novel and Postmodern Pop Fiction. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 978-90-272-6181-6.
- ^ Torres Cruz, Décio (2019). The Cinematic Novel and Postmodern Pop Fiction. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. p. 14. ISBN 978-90-272-6181-6.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ The Beatles. Yellow Submarine. Illustrated by Heinz Edelmann. Based on an original story by Lee Minoff. 1968.
- ^ "Book Review: City Life by Donald Barthelme". J. Kent Messum. 2015-10-18. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
- ^ "Cosmicomics", Wikipedia, 2020-05-29, retrieved 2020-09-18
- ^ "Cabrera Infante: Three Trapped Tigers | The Modern Novel". www.themodernnovel.org. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
- ^ "Kiss of the Spider Woman". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
- ^ Fernanda Sampaio Carneiro (2014-06-25). "Resenha: "Um cão uivando para a lua", de Antônio Torres". Falando em Literatura... (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-09-18.