Popular Genres: Science Fiction and Fantasy, Detective Novel, Thriller

Abstract

This article presents from a historical point of view, starting from the 19th century to the present, the evolution of the main paraliterary genres in Romanian literature (science-fiction and fantasy literature, detective literature, thriller). The study is theoretically based on a double hypothesis. First, that the evolution of these genres follows the Fredric Jameson–Franco Moretti “law” according to which in peripheral cultures the novel is imported as a form of compromise between a Western form and local materials. Secondly, that the communist period (1948–1989) is the reference period for the development of the popular fiction in Romania.