Speakers Bureau

In one of the first full-length studies of chick lit, UNH instructor Stephanie Harzewski analyzes the popular fiction genre that is both a commentary on the rise of the singles lifestyle and arguably the most defining writing of the postfeminist era -- a media phenomenon that has been frequently pointed to a symptom, if not the cause, of feminism’s debilitation. In one of the first full-length studies of chick lit, UNH instructor Stephanie Harzewski analyzes the popular fiction genre that is both a commentary on the rise of the singles lifestyle and arguably the most defining writing of the postfeminist era -- a media phenomenon that has been frequently pointed to a symptom, if not the cause, of feminism’s debilitation. “The strappy $500 high heels -- on waxed or shaved legs -- we associate with chick lit book covers are a decided contrast to the Birkenstocks of second-wave 1970s feminists. Postfeminism sees itself offering sleeker, more ‘fashionable’ models to the ‘humorless’ and dowdy older generation. In some ways, chick lit’s somewhat antagonistic relation to feminism is but one iteration of an age-old battle between youth and elders. At worst, it perpetuates a misreading of second-wave feminism,” says Harzewski, author of “Chick Lit and Postfeminism” (University of Virginia Press, 2011).