Popular Literature: Texts, Contexts, Contestations

This volume offers a selection of critical essays on texts that can be broadly categorized as popular literature. The essays are inclined to question the idea of ‘the Canon’ and re-consider the divide between the canonical and the popular. As such, besides engaging in a serious critical reading of typical popular literary texts like The Jungle Book and The Hound of the Baskervilles, the book also considers populist tendencies in literary classics like Jane Eyre and Frankenstein. It will be of interest to young scholars and readers of popular literature, science fiction, detective fiction, genre studies, and culture studies.

The volume’s contributors are: Anisha Ghosh, Arnab Dasgupta, Goutam Karmakar, Jaya Sarkar, Jaydip Sarkar, Madhuparna Mitra Guha, Mandika Sinha, Mitarik Barma, Pinaki Roy, Puja Chakraborty, Rajadipta Roy, Rupayan Mukherjee, Shirsendu Mondal, Shubham Dey.

Dr. Rupayan Mukherjee studied English Literature at Jadavpur University and University of North Bengal, India. Since 2017, he is lecturer of English at the University B.T. & Evening College in Cooch Behar, India. His previous books include Partition Literature and Cinema: A Critical Introduction (Routledge, 2020). His papers have been published by, among other outlets, Rupkatha Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities and Labyrinth: An International Refereed Journal of Postmodern Studies.


Dr. Jaydip Sarkar studied English Literature at University of North Bengal, India. Since 2015, he is Associate Professor of English at the University B.T. & Evening College in Cooch Behar, India. His previous books include A Handbook of Rhetoric and Prosody (Orient BlackSwan 2018), Partition Literature and Cinema: A Critical Introduction (Routledge, 2020), Writing Difference: Nationalism, Identity and Literature (Atlantic 2013) and Unmasking Power: Subjectivity and Resistance in Indian Drama in English (Papyrus 2014). His papers have been published by, among other outlets, Symposium and Labyrinth: An International Refereed Journal of Postmodern Studies.