First published in 1990, Popular Fiction looks at popular fiction in its literary, filmic, and televisual forms. They range across the main genres of popular fiction: science fiction, soap opera, detective fiction, the spy-thriller, the western, film noir, and comedy. Grouped into sections, the essays explore major themes in the study of popular fiction: the functioning of popular fiction within technologies of cultural regulation, the relations between popular fiction and nationalism; the connections between popular fictions and relations of power and knowledge; and the social and ideological factors moulding both the production and reading of popular fictions. Designed especially as a student text, this book will be invaluable to students of English and literary studies, media studies, film and TV studies, communication studies, and cultural studies.