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Populär Culture Review
work — some of them tender and heartening; others, abusive and disheartening. Yet, it is
the image of familial love — the protagonist’s haven and guide as he struggles and
matures — which commends this novel as most memorable.
Frank E. Dobson, Jr., Vanderbilt and Fisk Universities
Genre, Reception, and Adaptation in the
“Twilight” Series
Edited by Anne Morey
Ashgate, 2012
This new thirteen-chapter collection not only adds to, but enhances the existing
body of Twilight critical scholarship. Attempting to deconstruct elitist notions conceming
this young adult series, Editor Anne Morey brings together essays exploring the three
respective categories indicated by the volume’s title: genre, reception, and adaptation.
Despite the varying degrees (including lack) of fandom expressed by the fourteen
contributors, the Twilight saga is discussed critically, albeit respectfully. Several of the
articles not only acknowledge the series’ perceived faults, but actively attempt to account
for them, and/or to examine the ways in which diverse audiences have responded to them.
A familiarity with Meyer’s novels, as well as with the films adapted from them, is
assumed throughout; although, several succinct summaries have been provided in places
where they appear particularly necessary to the individual authors’ assertions.
Furthermore, despite referring to one another on points of both critical divergence and
similarity, the chapters do not overtly build upon one another and could be read
separately. This, combined with their generally limited length, explanations of relevant
theories, and accessible prose, would make them readily teachable.
While it may prove tempting to view several of the chapters, most especially
the first four, as repetitive — due to their centering upon similar content, combined with
their propensity for citing the same textual passages — the entire collection proves
remarkable for its ability to repeatedly treat closely related material from such a
multiplicity of perspectives. The first four chapters, though each deal with issues of
intimacy, romance, and sexuality within the saga, manage to explore these issues through
differing critical lenses; moreover, they consequently reach separate, if not always
unrelated, conclusions as to the implications associated with the presentation of these
elements.
Facilitating a smooth transition between discussions of genre and those
conceming reception, Hidalgo’s chapter, “Bridges, Nodes, and Bare Life: Race in the
‘Twilight’ Saga,” makes two notable contributions to Twilight studies. Her article
emerges beyond the potentially reductive nature of much existing scholarship, which
limits considerations of race within the series to critiquing the contrasting depictions of
the privileged, white Edward, versus the poor, Native American Jacob. Hidalgo not only
expands her examination of race to include the representation of other minorities, but she
also distinguishes that the problem with Meyer’s portrayal of Native Americans is not
that they are poor, but that they are poor and do no work — that is, that they do nothing