Perspectives

In what follows, we will look at aspects like literary period and similar works, which will help you put “Popular Girls” by Karen Shepard in a broader perspective.

Literary period

“Popular Girls” is a contemporary piece of fiction (published in 2001) which belongs to the literary movement we call Postmodernism. This literary movement emerged as a reaction to Modernism, and characterizes most literary works published after WWII and up to the present day.

Some of the features of Postmodernism that you can identify in “Popular Girls” are: the thematic choice,...

...

Works with the same theme

For the theme of materialism, we recommend short stories like “Number 4o” by Sarah Butler and “Baglady” by A. S. Byatt.

In “Number 4o” the author explores the lack of meaning in our post-modern contemporary society, in which people lose the sense of who they are and are increasingly preoccupied with material things. These aspects are explored by following an engaged woman whose house apparently disappears and who is unable to contact her fiancée.

“Baglady” (Flux, p. 9) follows the wife of a managing director, who has taken her to a mall while on a business trip.

...