New Library WorldPopular fiction in Israel: comparative perspectivesNurit Tirosh

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Users who downloaded this article also downloaded:Sarah Powell, (2003),"Bestsellers: Popular Fiction since 190020038Clive Bloom, . Bestsellers: Popular Fiction since 1900.Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. xiii + 292 pages, ISBN: 0#333#68743#4 £14.99", Library Review, Vol. 52 Iss 2 pp. 90-90Leslie Madden, (2006),"100 Most Popular Genre Fiction Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies2006195Bernard A.Drew, . 100 Most Popular Genre Fiction Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited2005. xiii+593 pp. £36.99/$65, ISBN: 1 59158 126 5 Popular Authors", Reference Reviews, Vol. 20 Iss 4 pp. 27-27Stuart James, (2013),"The Cambridge Companion to Popular Fiction2013141David Glover, Scott McCracken, . The CambridgeCompanion to Popular Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2012. xiv+225pp., ISBN: 978 0 521 51337 1 (hbck); 9780 521 73496 7 (pbck) £50; $90 (hbck); £17.99; $27.99 (pbck) Cambridge Companions to Literature", Reference Reviews, Vol.27 Iss 4 pp. 35-36

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Popular fiction in Israel:comparativeperspectives

Nurit Tirosh

The author

Nurit Tirosh is a Senior Librarian at Haifa University Library,Technical Services Branch, Hebrew Section, Haifa, Israel.

Keywords

Academic libraries, Culture (sociology), Fiction, Surveys, Israel,United States of America

Abstract

In light of the place of popular fiction in world cultural historyand in the context of the broader debate of “high culture versuspopular culture”, this article addresses the importance ofpopular fiction in the academic library. The article compares theattitude of Israeli academic libraries towards popular fiction tothe attitude of parallel American university and researchlibraries. A survey of a sample of academic curriculi and librariesin Israel suggests no established policy related to collectiondevelopment and the acquisition of popular fiction. Whileleading American academic institutions adopt such policy, nosuch trends are evident in Israeli institutions. According to thepolysystem theory of literature, popular fiction should have astatus of its own as one of various systems within a structuredwhole. As such, it is a legitimate subject of literary research.Popular fiction as an interdisciplinary subject may interestresearchers from different fields of study in the humanities andthe social sciences. The need to establish a collectiondevelopment and acquisition policy for popular fiction in order tofacilitate systematic and continuous research in this field is thusindicated. This endeavour should be coordinated both regionallyand nationally.

Electronic access

The Emerald Research Register for this journal isavailable atwww.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister

The current issue and full text archive of this journal isavailable atwww.emeraldinsight.com/0307-4803.htm

Popular fiction has occupied a significant section

of the book market for many years, yet it is not

clear today what its place and importance in the

academic world is. According to a pioneer

comparative survey that I conducted this year

based on the program of studies in Israeli

universities, it appears that there is still no separate

department for popular culture. Furthermore,

according to a telephone poll in a number of

academic libraries, one finds that there is no policy

for the development of library collections in the

field of popular fiction, nor is there any systematic

acquisition of it.

What is “popular fiction”? How can one

distinguish between “popular fiction” and “elitist

fiction”? Is there a need today for such a

distinction? Is the academic library obliged to

acquire this type of literature? This article raises

such questions in the context of comparing the

attitude of universities and academic libraries in

Israel to popular fiction, with that of parallel

institutions in the USA. (It should be noted that

the article makes no reference to children’s

literature.)

For the purpose of this article elitist fiction is

defined as those works of fiction written for a

small, elite group of intellectuals suited to in-depth

literary interpretation. This kind of fiction exhibits

the highest level of literary workmanship, style and

quality. Popular fiction is written for the wide

public and is considered as of a lesser literary

quality. This category is characterized by the

formula novel and includes: romance and

adventure, suspense fiction, science fiction and

comics.

Popular versus elitist fiction: historicaland cultural aspects

Scholars throughout the ages have regarded

literature as one of the forms of expression for

culture, and popular literature as an integral part

of popular culture. The discussion about popular

culture versus elitist culture has existed since the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries until today.

Therefore, when “popular fiction” is being

discussed there is need for a wider range of

deliberation.

In the course of history, popular culture was

transferred to an elitist framework and vice versa.

One of the channels for this was women. Women

have frequently adopted new types of culture that

were rejected by their peers as “tasteless”. An

example of this is the novel (Cohen and Cohen,

1996). In eighteenth century England the novel

was considered as essentially women’s literature,

while men saw it as a waste of time. A century later

New Library World

Volume 105 · Number 1200/1201 · 2004 · pp. 218-224

q Emerald Group Publishing Limited · ISSN 0307-4803

DOI 10.1108/03074800410536658

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the novel became the most well-known and valued

form of literature even for men (Tuchman and

Fortin, 1989).

The detective novel, on the other hand, began as

an entertaining elitist form of writing in Victorian

England. Its heroes were of the middle class and

the nobility. The reader was given the task of trying

to solve the mystery. In the 1930s clear rules were

set down for the writing of detective novels, and

writers and critics wrote serious articles on the

subject. It appears that both writers and readers of

that era were intellectuals. Since then, the

detective novel genre has undergone a process of

popularization, and two types may be

distinguished: the popular suspense novel and the

intellectual detective novel, (Cohen and Cohen,

1996).

Occasionally, the ruling classes or the

intelligentsia adopt expressions of popular culture.

An example of this is the comic strip, the printed

version of the cartoon film. For the first time these

drawings appeared in the daily press in nineteenth

century England. From there it was transmitted to

the USA as a form of entertainment for people

who found difficulty in reading a newspaper. From

the 1960s the “comics” began to appear with

political criticism. During the Watergate period

two editorials appeared in the daily press, the

written one on the editorial page and the “comics”

one on the back page (Cohen and Cohen, 1996).

Contemporary researchers such as Ganz (1985)

state, in response to the claim that popular fiction

is borrowed from elitist fiction, that the creators

and writers of popular culture often fight for their

ideas and are not merely imitators. Moreover,

since the 1970s elitist culture has more marginal a

status than ever before. It has become the culture

of experts, creative artists, critics, and academics.

The influence of elitist fiction has also declined

because of the devaluation in the reliability of the

claim that its cultural standards are universal. He

further states, in reference to the American society,

that today the public no longer feels “in awe”

towards high culture as in earlier generations.

Historians of culture, such as Swingwood (1977),

stress the need of a person in modern society to

strive for and attain his own personal sense of

value, a value that is most important in popular

culture and fiction.

In the opinion of Cohen and Cohen (1996), it is

appropriate that a dynamic model should be

presented as an expression of contemporary

culture. Just as different social levels occasionally

distance themselves or draw closer together, so

cultural expression changes, in accordance with

time and place, from an expression of popular

culture to one of elitist culture and vice versa.

The literary polysystem

At the basis of the concept polysystem (Even-

Zohar, 1986) is the idea of literature as an

historical phenomenon that should be analyzed by

a system or systems approach similar to that

practised today in other sciences. The purpose of

this conception is to expose the laws, relatively few

in number, which control the large and complex

mechanism of literary phenomena. What may be

viewed as literature by the systems approach does

not correspond to the controlling concepts in the

literary establishment, namely, those of the critics

and other literary intermediaries.

A literary system is:

. . . a network of relations that obtain between texts(including potential texts, such as models) byvirtue of which they are believed both to “belongto” and “constitute” one whole usually labelled“literature” (Even-Zohar, 1986, Ch. I, p. 463).

The conception of system is dominated by the

principles of stratification, heterogeneity and

dynamics. Therefore the creation of canonical

texts and their dissemination involve struggle. All

the models strive for acceptance, to create the

largest number of texts and to move into the

centre, but only a small number of them acquire

the status of “official”, “high”, and become

canonical. (The subject of popular fiction has been

treated indirectly in the research literature through

the concepts of canonical and non-canonical. My

assumption is that most popular fiction, at least in

its earlier stages, was non-canonical.) The margins

of the system, models and products, can be found

at the same time to be in different stages of

becoming established, and try to replace the

functions that control the centre.

Even-Zohar (1986), who improved the

conception of seeing literature as a “system of

various systems”, called it the polysystem theory of

literature. This theory allows for the assumption of

more than one centre that establishes hierarchical

relationships, while one of them manages to

control the whole. In the polysystem theory, all

fields of literary creativity, popular literature,

translated literature, children’s literature, as well as

semi-literary texts, become suitable subjects of

research.

The historical study of literary polysystems cannotconfine itself to the so called “masterpieces”, evenif some would consider them the only raison d’etreof literary studies. This kind of elitism cannot becompatible with literary historiography . . . (Even-Zohar, 1990, p. 13).

On the other hand, the existing cultural hierarchies

should not be ignored, and allow commercial or

naıve popular literature to be perceived as the

“only true culture” that reflects the “spirit of the

people”. “Historiography which is not elitist or

Popular fiction in Israel: comparative perspectives

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evaluative strives to exclude biased opinions of any

kind” (Even-Zohar, 1978, p. 1).

Popular fiction and criticism

Popular fiction is generally represented by formula

narrative and mainly includes the romantic novel,

detective and suspense fiction, science fiction, and

comics. “Formula” in the literary sense is the

synthesis of cultural conventions, and material or

archetypal story patterns that are used in inter-

cultural comparative research. It may be said that

the genres of popular fiction make use of the

literary “formula”. The structural pattern appears

to have already been in existence in the nineteenth

century, but was defined as a separate type of

literature only in the twentieth century (Cawelti,

1976).

Literary critics agree that “formula” fiction fills

a strong need for escape and relaxation by

providing intense emotional satisfaction. The

reader undergoes experiences such as life, death,

violence, and sex, but in a manner that increases

his sense of confidence and well-ordered existence.

Previous experience guides the reader in what may

be expected in new works, unlike elitist fiction that

stresses the complex and multi-significance of life

(Cawelti, 1976).

The widespread view (Sewell, 1984) is that

“formula” fiction is limited in novelty and

creativity, and its value as literature is therefore

marginal. The researcher finds an interest in it

because it reflects the yearnings and deepest

desires of the masses. The collective fantasies that

are objectified in these works can be analyzed in

order to examine the cultural tendencies of people

at different periods of time and in different

locations. The objection to “formula” fiction also

arises from the fact that the traditional canons of

taste and aesthetics were unsuited to the research

of this type of literature.

Cawelti (1976) claims that new aesthetic

approaches are needed for the evaluation of these

genres, and that one should use concepts such as

formulas, genres and story archetypes. It is a fact

that many writers and artists create for the masses.

No less expertise is needed in order to satisfy the

taste of the general reading public than that which

is required to satisfy the taste of an elitist public

(Nye, 1970).

Some researchers (e.g. Buell, 1973) think that

many famous writers such as Dickens and

Hemingway wrote on two levels. Dickens aimed

his first novels in particular, as entertainment,

which meant a clear presentation of recognizable

characters and situations, of moral content which

met the needs, fears and aspirations of his readers.

These were qualities which he strived to achieve in

all his work, even when his art matured in depth

and complexity.

Pickwick Papers for example became the

publishing sensation of the nineteenth century,

while Dickens turned to be the most popular

English writer since Shakespeare (Schlicke, 1985).

Nowadays, Dickens is considered as a leading

classical author.

Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea was

considered his best work and awarded the 1953

Pulitzer Prize. It also played a significant role in

Hemingway’s selection for the Nobel Prize for

Literature in 1954. For the first 15 years after its

publication, critical response remained positive.

Since the mid-1960s the work was subject to

attacks as containing unrealistic elements. Later on

the work was criticized for being psychologically

simplistic and sentimental and gained less and less

attention. Even though The Old Man and the Sea is

popularly beloved and studied in the USA and

around the world, critics place it among

Hemingway’s less significant works (Sonny, 2000).

Melville, for example, intended to write popular

fiction but created elitist fiction instead (Buell,

1973).

Traditional criticism, which denigrates popular

fiction for developing bad taste and debasing moral

values, still retains significant power, although in

an intellectual form, and also has practical

influence in the development of library collections.

Popular fiction in Israel

The process of creating Hebrew culture in the

Land of Israel was also a matter that was involved

in the discussion of elitist versus popular culture.

The non-labor intelligentsia in this country

demanded a full “cultural repertoire” in Hebrew.

They claimed that in a period when national

culture could not supply all the cultural needs, it

must be supplied through translation or

adaptation.

The assumption was that culture was an entire

range of phenomena that was not only elitist

(Shavit, 1980). Another approach that was more

elitist demanded a stricter selection according to

the ideology based on values such as “love of the

land”, “physical labour”, and “social equality”.

The literary establishment during the period of the

Yishuv (pre-State settlement), saw literature as an

educational factor that played a national-cultural

role. Fearing the possible neglect of legitimate

Hebrew literature, the establishment reacted with

hostility to the appearance of “literature for the

masses” in the original and in translation that

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brought about the intrusion of “negative foreign

elements” such as detective and spy novels.

The appearance of original non-canonical

Hebrew fiction involved a cultural struggle. The

one who first gave legitimacy to non-canonical

Hebrew literature was the Zionist leader and writer

Zeev Jabotinsky. His view was that literature was a

means to disseminate the language and national

values, and it had to satisfy the cultural needs of all

levels of society. He also saw this literature as

fulfilling an important role in leisure culture. Other

personalities who also supported this view thought

that original Hebrew fiction could not yet supply

the needs of the non-canonical system. They

regarded the detective story and the romantic story

as suited to this task (Shavit, 1999).

The non-canonical literary system was first

created through translated literature that also

included the European classics. Even-Zohar

(1977) saw translated literature as an integral

element, though generally of secondary status,

within the literary polysystem. Through such

foreign literary works, new elements, models and

techniques could enter into local literature.

In the wake of demographic, social, and cultural

changes that occurred in the Land of Israel after

the Fourth Aliya (immigration wave) that began in

1924, lower class social levels were formed for

whom the higher Hebrew culture was unfamiliar.

The immigrants from Eastern Europe did not have

any particular Zionist motivation. They arrived

because of social and economic distress.

Therefore, the reading habits of this section of the

population were quite different. Many of the adults

were used to reading popular literature in a foreign

language, and it was easier for them to move from

their language to a simpler type of Hebrew

literature. During the 1930s there was an increase

in the number of native-born children most of

whom spoke Hebrew and read Hebrew. The

reading public and their needs became verified and

there began a process of stratification in Hebrew

literature. Because of the elitist image of Hebrew

literature and because of the irregularity in its

appearance, the non-canonical literature during

the Yishuv period was hardly documented at all,

and therefore existing research is merely a partial

description (Shavit, 1999).

A book has recently appeared written by Eshed

(2002) entitled From Tarzan to Zbeng: The Story of

Popular Hebrew Fiction. It is a detailed survey of

popular Hebrew fiction, both original and

translated, from Mandate times until today.

Hundreds of books and pamphlets in a variety of

genres in popular Hebrew fiction are reviewed,

with the exclusion of romantic fiction of the past

30 years. This literature reflects a variegated

cultural world that can serve as a wide basis for

researchers in the field of humanities and the social

sciences.

Popular fiction in American universitiesand research libraries

In his article, Sewell (1984) describes the

development of popular fiction as an academic

subject in universities and research libraries in the

USA. Since the 1960s there has been an increasing

interest in popular culture, and in popular fiction

in particular, as material suitable for academic

study and research. Most libraries have been

founded through the contributions and legacies of

private persons who were enthusiastic collectors of

one type of popular literary genres. Well-known

libraries constantly receive popular fiction as gifts,

and collect one or two genres specifically. The

survey conducted by Sewell (1984) indicates that

some of the libraries have set up separate or special

collections of popular fiction, and others have

collected this literature without any academic plan,

and have merged it with their general collection. In

1969 the Popular Culture Association (www.h-

net.org/,pcaaca/pca/pcahistory.htm) was

founded in the USA with the aim of conducting an

in-depth study of artistic and commercial products

intended for mass consumption: printed material,

films, television programs, comics, advertisements

and graphics, materials that reflect values, beliefs

and patterns of thought and emotion that are

commonly accepted by American society. This is

material suitable for research by the cultural

historian, the literary researcher, or the sociologist.

In the 1970s the subject of popular culture was

institutionalized and hundreds of colleges and

universities offered courses in popular culture.

According to the afore mentioned survey this trend

recieved a large boost from the Bowling Green

State University in Ohio, an important research

centre for popular culture in the USA. The

Popular Culture Library (www.bgsu.edu/colleges/

library/pcl/pcl.html) was founded in 1969 and

contains about 50,000 items of popular fiction and

culture. The library is one of the few academic

libraries that have a defined collection

development policy in the field of popular fiction.

It collects fiction of various genres and especially

books by specific authors and publishers. The use

of the library has increased with the development

of a program of study in popular culture. The

university press – “Popular Press” which has been

acquired lately by the University of Wisconsin

Press (www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/pcl/

pcl.html) – publishes many journals on popular

culture research as well as important monographs

on the subject.

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Sewell (1984) describes three other important

research libraries in the field of popular fiction.

The second academic library that is committed to

the subject is the Nye Popular Culture Collection

at the University of Michigan (www.lib.msu.edu/

coll/main/spec_col/nye/), which contains 35,000

volumes of comic books, youth fiction and popular

fiction for adults. A large portion of the books was

received as gifts. Beginning with the year 1972, the

University of Michigan serves as a depository for

the American Science Fiction writers.

The third research library on the subject of

popular fiction is the San Francisco Academy of

Comic Art (http://dlib.lib.ohio-state.edu/cga/).

This is a research and study centre founded in

1967 especially to preserve the comic strip when

most libraries replaced their paper periodicals with

microfilm editions. The collection contains

popular literature in most of the genres except for

the romantic novel. An important place is reserved

for detective fiction from the year 1800 till today.

This institution also publishes books on the subject

of popular fiction.

The fourth important library is the Hess

Collection at the University of Minnesota (http://

special.lib.umn.edu/clrc/hess/index.phtml). This

collection was founded in 1954 on the basis of a

private legacy and includes entire series of “dime

novels” and “nickel novels” of the nineteenth

century, children’s fiction, and stories through

pictures. The library serves the needs of research,

and many articles and dissertations have been

written on the basis of research done at this

library.

The Library of Congress (www.loc.gov/loc/

legacy/loc.html) contains, of course, the largest

collection of popular fiction in the USA. The

material is distributed in special collections and

also in the general collection. According to the

copyright law of 1870, it has been mandatory to

deposit in the Library of Congress two copies of

every work that had publication rights.

Popular fiction in Israeli universities andacademic libraries

In Israel today, the question is still being asked

regarding the importance of popular fiction versus

elitist fiction, and whether there is any academic

justification for collecting this type of literature.

There are also practical problems: does the

budget allow for investment in this field, especially

in light of existing limitations; is there sufficient

manpower to deal with this material; and is there

physical space to accommodate the books?

In recent years several studies have been made

on the subject of popular fiction. The writers come

from different fields of the humanities and social

studies. There is still no separate department for

popular culture in Israeli universities. Academic

discussion, though limited, is conducted in the

framework of literary studies, cultural studies,

women studies, communications studies,

children’s literature, and in the framework of

interdisciplinary studies. Most literary researchers

still do not tend to go deeply into this field, except

for a certain interest in the genre of science fiction,

in which one of its offshoots, alternative histories,

had been gaining increased recognition even in

academic circles (Eshed, 2002).

In academic libraries in Israel, popular fiction is

hardly ever acquired. In general, this kind of

literature is ordered only at the specific

recommendation of lecturers and in accordance

with budgetary allowance.

At the University of Haifa, which is the largest

academic institution in northern Israel, there is still

no policy for the development of popular fiction

collections. Popular fiction in foreign languages

has been acquired only by order of lecturers.

Popular fiction in Hebrew has usually been

acquired selectively for leisure reading purposes

and not for study or research. Despite the existing

curtailments today, there is a trend in acquiring

original Hebrew popular fiction, but limiting the

acquisition of popular fiction in translation. At the

same time, there is a demand by the Department of

History for popular historical fiction in Hebrew

and in foreign languages as supplemental to the

academic study material. Furthermore, the

acquisitions librarian in academic libraries in Israel

has to decide where a certain book belongs, in

popular fiction or elitist fiction. The solution is

never conclusive.

In order to ratify the above statements, an

additional preliminary comparative survey was

conducted in order to examine whether there was

any trend in acquiring popular fiction in Hebrew,

both original and translated, in Northern Forum

libraries in particular and in academic libraries in

Israel in general. The Northern Forum is an

organization of academic libraries in Haifa and the

Northern region which cooperate on several levels:

planning a unified catalogue, cataloging policy,

acquisition, interlibrary loan and conferences.

Members of the Northern Forum which were

surveyed are University of Haifa, Emek Yizreel

College, Gordon College, ORT Braude College,

Emek Hayarden College, Oranim College, and Tel

Hai Academic College. (The survey refers only to

libraries that use the Aleph program. ALEPH –

Automated Library Expandable Program is the

automated academic library system in Israel and is

also used by libraries world wide.) The catalogues

of the libraries in these institutions were reviewed.

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For this purpose, ten randomly selected titles in

Hebrew that characterized various types of popular

fiction, some in the original and some translated

were used, and a check was made as to which

libraries possessed them (see Table I).

Although this is a small sample, a proportion of

the titles included in the survey is very popular and

has been published in a wide time interval.

Therefore, these findings provide a snapshot and

could indicate the general trends related to popular

fiction in academic libraries. On this basis it may

be estimated then, that none of the academic

libraries included in the survey had established a

policy for collection development in the field of

popular fiction. There is also no salient trend in the

collection of popular fiction in the original Hebrew

as compared with popular fiction in translation,

nor alternatively to concentrate on the developing

one of the genres specifically mentioned. It appears

that, other than the Jewish National Library

(http://jnul.huji.ac.il/) in which new titles

deposition is mandatory, the existing collection in

the large university libraries is definitely fortuitous

just as it is for the collections in the colleges. It

seems, therefore, that unlike the trend in the USA,

the academic libraries in Israel have not yet

decided on a policy of collection development and

acquisitions in the field of popular fiction.

However this result should be further investigated

employing a larger number of titles.

Collection development policy

In view of the development of themarket in popular

fiction and as a result of the legitimacy that certain

genres have acquired mainly in the 1980s and

onward, a real need has become evident for

determining a policy for collection development

and acquisition of this type of books in academic

libraries. The planning should be regional and even

national, and should be done both by researchers

andby librarians.Acommonforumshouldbesetup

to discuss the subject similar to those forums that

exist in the USA (Sewell, 1984). One theoretical

possibility is that the libraries should divide among

themselves the burden of collecting the material.

Each library would specialize in one genre of

popular fiction. In the meantime, the National and

University Library in Jerusalem, which constitutes

the largest and most comprehensive reservoir of

books, is making a determined effort to acquire

popular fiction as well. There is no doubt of the

difficulty in making collections in this field, but

librarians are obliged to look ahead, to plan in good

time, and to create a suitable infrastructure for

future study and research.

Summary

The studies on which this article is based see

literature as an integral part of culture in general

Table I Sample distribution of titles held in academic libraries

Other academic libraries Northern Forum libraries Year Titles Author Genre

National Librarya

Tel-Aviv UniversityHaifa UniversityOranim CollegeTel-Hai Academic College

1988 From Russia withLoveb

Flemming, Ian Espionage

National Librarya Oranim College 1988 The Man with theGolden Gunb

Flemming, Ian Espionage

National Librarya 1963 Miss Marpleb Christie, Agatha DetectiveNational Librarya

Ort Braude College1993 American Starb Collins, Jackie Romance

National Librarya

Tel-Aviv UniversityBen-Gurion UniversityBar-Ilan University

Haifa UniversityOrt Braude CollegeEmek Yisre’el College

1992 Ruth and Jerry Gal, Naomi Romance

National Libraryb

Beit-Berl CollegeHaifa UniversityJordan Valley CollegeEmek Yisre’el College

1999 Casanova’s Memoirsb Casanova, GiovanniGiacomo

Romance andAdventure

National Librarya

Shaar Hanegev – Sapir Academic CollegeEmek Yisre’el College 2001 Sparesb Smith, Michael

MarshalScience Fiction

National Librarya

Ben-Gurion UniversityHaifa University Emek Yisre’elCollege

2001 The Time Machineb Wells, Herbert George Science Fiction

National Librarya

Ben-Gurion University David YellinCollege

Haifa University 1980 Masah be-merhaveha-zeman

Pal, Amiram Alternative history

National Librarya

Kibbutzim College of EducationHaifa University Emek Yisre’elCollege

2002 Happy End Colton, Batya et al. Comics

Notes: a Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem; b Translated from English into Hebrew

Popular fiction in Israel: comparative perspectives

Nurit Tirosh

New Library World

Volume 105 · Number 1200/1201 · 2004 · 218-224

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and regard elitist and popular fiction as one single

entity. It is a proven fact that there was a history of

popular fiction in this country from the pre-State

Yishuv period until today, even though it did not

appear continuously. According to the polysystem

theory, popular fiction has place and status as an

appropriate subject in the theory of literature

regardless of critical value judgments. There is a

growing interest today in various genres of popular

fiction by researchers in various fields: literature,

sociology, cultural history and communications. In

the light of demographic, social, and cultural

changes in Israel in recent years, there is a need for

documentation and comparative research in

subjects such as: the structure of the contemporary

reading public, its scope and needs. The academic

libraries should decide on a policy, in accordance

with regional and national factors, for the

development and acquisition of collections in the

field of popular fiction in view of prospective

research and study on this subject.

As described above, since the 1960s there has

been a considerable development of popular

culture as an academic subject in universities and

research libraries in the USA. Many universities

offer courses in popular culture and popular fiction

in particular and expand their libraries collections

in this field. Yet this is not the attitude of Israeli

academic universities and libraries at present. In

Israel academic institutions, unlike in the USA,

separate departments of popular culture have not

yet been developed. Popular fiction as an academic

subject is still the interest of few. It appears,

therefore, that popular fiction in academic

research gains a lot more attention in the American

academic learning institutions and libraries

compared to their Israeli counterparts.

Comparative intercultural research should

therefore be undertaken so as to clarify the

processes that cause such differences.

References

Buell, L. (1973), The Design of Literature, Pendulum, WestHaven, CT.

Cawelti, J.G. (1976), Adventure, Mystery and Romance,University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

Cohen, E. and Cohen, R. (1996), “Tarbut amamit ve-tarbut ilit:ashlayat ha-nigudim”, (Popular culture and elite culture:

an illusory contrast), in Kedar, B.Z. (Ed.), Ha-tarbut ha-amamit, (Studies in the History of Popular Culture),Merkaz Zalman Shazar for Jewish History, Yerushalaim.

Eshed, E. (2002), Mi-tarzan ve-ad zbeng: ha-sipur shel ha-sifrutha-popularit ha-ivrit. (From Tarzan to Zbeng: The Story ofPopular Hebrew Fiction), Bavel, Tel Aviv.

Even-Zohar, I. (1977), “The position of translated literaturewithin the literary polysystem: new perspectives in literarystudies”, in Holmes, J.S., Lambert, J. and Van den Broeck, R.(Eds), Literature and Translation, Acco., Leuven,pp. 117-27.

Even-Zohar, I. (1978), “Iyun mehudash be-hipothesatha-rav-maarechet” (“The polysystem hypothesisrevisited”), Ha-Sifrut, Vol. 27, pp. 1-6.

Even-Zohar, I. (1986), “Literary system”, in Sebeok, T.A. (Ed.),Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Vol. 1, Mouton deGruyter, Berling, pp. 463-6.

Even-Zohar, I. (1990), “Polysystem theory”, Poetics Today, Vol. 11No. 1, pp. 2-9.

Ganz, H.J. (1985), “American popular culture and high culture ina changing class structure”, in Balfe, J.H. andWyszomirski, M.J. (Eds), Art, Ideology and Politics, Praeger,New York, NY, pp. 40-58.

Nye, R.G. (1970), The Unembarrassed Muse, Dial Press, NewYork, NY.

Schlicke, P. (1985), Dickens and Popular Entertainment, Allen &Unwin, London.

Sewell, R.G. (1984), “Trash or treasure? Pop fiction in academicand research libraries”, College and Research Libraries,Vol. 45 No. 10, pp. 450-61.

Shavit, Y. (1980), “Tarbut ivrit ve-tarbut be-ivrit” (“Hebrewculture and culture in Hebrew”), Catedra, Vol. 16,pp. 190-193.

Shavit, Z. (1999), “Hitpathut ha-sifrut ha-lo-canonit”, (“Thedevelopment of non-canonozed literature”), in Lissak, M.and Cohen, G. (Eds), The History of the Jewish Communityin Eretz-Israel since 1982: The Construction of HebrewCulture in Eretz-Israel, 1982, Ha-Akademia ha-leumit ha-yisraelit le-madaim, Yerushalaim.

Sonny, E. (2000), “Classic Note on The Old Man and the Sea”,available at: www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/oldman/about.html

Swingwood, A. (1977), The Myth of Mass Culture, Macmillan,London.

Tuchman, G. and Fortin, N.E. (1989), Edging Women Out, YaleUniversity Press, New Haven, CT.

Further reading

Brewis, W.L.E., Gericke, E.M. and Kruger, J.A. (1996),“Contemporary popular fiction as cultural and literaryphenomenon”, Mousaion, Vol. 14, pp. 68-80.

Burke, P. (1978), Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe, Harper& Row, New York, NY.

Popular fiction in Israel: comparative perspectives

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New Library World

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This article has been cited by:

1. Justine Alsop. 2007. Bridget Jones Meets Mr. Darcy: Challenges of Contemporary Fiction. The Journal of Academic Librarianship33:5, 581-585. [CrossRef]

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