Chick lit is a term used to describe a type of popular fiction targeted at women, widely used in the 1990s and 2000s though it has since fallen out of fashion with publishers as numerous writers and critics reject it as inherently sexist. Novels identified as chick lit typically address romantic relationships, female friendships and workplace struggles in humorous and lighthearted ways, with typical protagonists being urban, heterosexual women in their late twenties and early thirties; the 1990s chick lit heroine represented an evolution of the traditional romantic heroine in her assertiveness, financial independence and enthusiasm for conspicuous consumption.
Facts
Place of OriginUnited States and United Kingdom, where the format developed in the early 1990s. 1 Notable ExampleBridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (1996), called the seminal text of chick lit. 1 Defining TraitPopular fiction aimed at women, addressing romantic relationships, female friendships and workplace struggles in a humorous, lighthearted way, typically centered on an urban, financially independent heroine in her late twenties or thirties. 1 Connections
Sources
1. Chick Lit (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Novels identified as chick lit typically address romantic relationships, female friendships, and workplace struggles in humorous and lighthearted ways.
Lead section (format origins sentence)
The format developed through the early 1990s in both the United States and the United Kingdom with books such as Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale (1992, US) and Catherine Alliott's The Old Girl Network (1994, UK).
Lead section (Bridget Jones's Diary sentence)
Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (1996, UK), wildly popular globally, is the seminal text of chick lit
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