what is popular fiction? the answer to this question, zigzagging from concerns of re-presentation and verisimilitude to the modulating forces of the market, is as complex as the question seems simple. almost all cultural products produced in today's age find themselves tied intricately to the generic bifurcation of the high and the low or the canonical and the popular. but what decides such classifications? wherein lie the intricacies of the formation of not only such decisions, but also these categories themselves? to complicate matters more, popular fiction is not a homogenous entity that can simply be recognized through singular modes of reading and writing. moving across various genres, popular fiction is presented as a mushrooming multiplicity: be it romance, fantasy, or the everyday thriller. the present book, then, tries to introduce students and young researchers to the minutiae of the modalities within which the concept of pop fiction itself, and subsequently the cultural products produced and placed therein work. divided into two sections, the first comprising five essays by pawling, hughes, suvin, todorov, and ramaswamy, works as a primer for those interested in studying the fundamental forms of popular fiction. the second section, on the other hand, presents essays, each prefaced with an editors' introduction, that delve deeper into the myriad concerns that form the more complex theoretical topos of the field.