Chicklit: a Writing Style on Life Stories

In her chapter, Grewal writes that “Many life narratives have recently been published in First World locations that are authored by those from the so-called margins. Recent publications in the United States include, for instance, writing by women color, Asian immigrants telling their lives, memoirs, novel, short stories by minorities.” (p.232)

This passage reminds me on a new style of writing called Chick-lit. According to Chicklit.us (Ferriss 2006, 3), chick-lit “reflects the lives [of] everyday working young women and men, and appeals to readers who want to see their own lives in all the messy detail, reflected in fiction today.” I think this genre allows and gives women wider opportunity to write their life experiences through literature form. In Indonesian context, this genre has influenced the emergence of popular writing in the contemporary Indonesian literature written by Indonesian women writers. Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary published in Britain in 1999, was the first chick lit novel translated into Bahasa. In 2000, it was followed by the publication of The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing and Being Single and Happy written by Melissa Bank. These novels were translated into Bahasa as well.

However, since this genre is more addressed market readers, and tells about urban life styles, it seems that this genre is not academic enough to represent what is called “scholarly works” in comparison to memoir or autobiography. But, as a cultural production, I think some chick-lits may portray women identities and gender violence in the society.

Source:
Ferriss, Suzanne, and Mallory Young. Chick Lit: The New Woman’s Fiction. New York: Routledge, 2006.
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