Trivial Pursuits: The Aesthetics of Frivolity in Popular Literary Forms

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In this course, students will encounter a variety of popular literary texts and films that may be described as charming, adorable, folksy, kitschy, girly, boyish, or even geeky. The disarming triviality of these modes of aesthetic presentation can often obscure competing motives that blur the lines between popular media objects and propaganda literature. At the same time, the frivolousness and seeming insignificance of literary forms such as little poems, comic books, zines, chick-flicks, or fantasy novels can be deployed to resist mainstream aesthetics or normative politics. This course explores how gender, race, and class intersect with the construction of genres to influence how literary works are produced, marketed, read, and critiqued. In this course, we will examine the historical and material conditions that influenced the production of genres or forms of literature. We will understand how these forms came to be labelled as aesthetically trivial, analyse how individual works conform with or subvert expectations of genre, and evaluate the impact of trivialisation on how we read these texts as the forms continue to develop. All reading and viewing material will be made available on Canvas or through the Hesburgh Library.