[ecrea] CALL FOR PAPERS: The Pleasures and Politics of Popular Erotic Fiction (Edited Collection)

CALL FOR PAPERS: The Pleasures and Politics of Popular Erotic Fiction 
(Edited Collection)

The publication of EL James’ Fifty Shades of Grey in 2011 marks a 
particularly visible moment in what appears to be a proliferation of 
erotic fiction, written by and for women, since the end of the twentieth 
century. More than just an instance of a particular genre of fiction, 
Fifty Shades has spawned considerable discussion of the significance of 
‘women’s popular erotic fiction’ generally.

The Pleasures and Politics of Popular Erotic Fiction seeks to explore 
this phenomenon, its social and textual origins and its attendant 
conceptual and political effects. In doing so, the book aims to examine 
the discursive regularities and popular debates framing the production 
and reception of women’s popular erotic fiction; the cultural anxieties 
and transformations such texts express; the ways in which they 
reinscribe and negotiate relations of gender, sexuality, race, and 
kinship. We are interested in exploring the ideological forces 
underpinning their development and visibility as both a ‘new’ and 
‘popular’ form; the ever-growing proliferation of subgenres and their 
role in shaping popular ideas about romance, relationships, desire, and 
the erotic.

We invite proposals for contributions to an edited collection of 
critical research on the cultural significance of ‘women’s popular 
erotic fiction’. Possible areas of research include (though are not 
limited to):

· The cultural work of the different subgenres (BDSM, paranormal 
romance, erotic crime fiction, ménage a trois, ‘neighbour from hell’, 
sex confessionals) and the ways of speaking about, categorising and 
marketing these texts.

· The rise of independently published online erotic fiction (production 
and consumption) and the discourses surrounding it.

· Debates around originality and derivativeness.

· The continuities and departures of erotic fiction from its 
predecessors in romance fiction and chick lit, as well as those from 
more ‘respectable’ literary traditions.

· The role of popular erotic fiction in reinforcing and/or transgressing 
the hegemony of whiteness, heterosexuality, patriarchy, the family, etc.

· The role of this fiction in circumscribing an idea of ‘the West’, as 
well as the possibilities offered by non-western forms of popular erotic 
fiction.

· The pleasures of reader consumption and the discourses surrounding it.

· The function of romance in women’s erotic fiction.

Expressions of interest, including an abstract (250-300 words), a short 
author bio and list of recent publications, may be forwarded via email 
to the editors by 24 May, 2013. The anticipated due date for accepted 
contributions (6,500 –7,500) is 29 November, 2013.

Dr Kristen Phillips, Claire Trevenen, Curtin University (Bentley, 
Western Australia)

Contact email: (k.phillips /at/ curtin.edu.au), (Claire.Trevenen /at/ curtin.edu.au)

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