Often referred to in French as "paralittérature" on its literary side, pulp fiction and popular genres constitute a rather unstable, loosely defined category that tends to collapse non-canonical modes of expression. The purpose of this course is to explore the socio-economic and ideological, as well as artistic, underpinnings of a genre that is consistently decried and marginalized by cultural institutions. Such subgenres as comics, crime, horror, science fiction, adventure and eroticism (or pornography) will be considered in both their literary and filmic guises, with particular emphasis on various representations of "otherness" (the monster, the alien, the criminal, the primitive, the femme fatale, the sexual predator, etc), serialized modes of production, recurrent narrative structures, the use and function of stereotypes, etc. Please note: this seminar is for seniors (majoring in French) only.