Une nouvelle forme de roman sentimental est apparue durant les années 1990, faisant suite à la parution de Bridget Jones’s Diary destinée à la fois aux femmes (chick-lit) et aux hommes (lad-lit). Ces deux types de fiction se distinguent du roman sentimental sériel par leur narration et leurs thèmes qui n’avaient jusqu’à présent jamais été évoqués puisqu’ils offrent aux lecteurs un reflet de notre société actuelle. La thèse analyse ce nouvel avatar du roman sentimental et en dégage les spécificités aussi bien sur le plan narratif que thématique ainsi que les liens qu’il entretient avec le genre, sans négliger son aspect commercial. / When Helen Fielding published Bridget Jones’s Diary in the middle of the 1990s, she gave birth to a new kind of romantic fiction written for women (chick-lit) and men (lad-lit). The difference with formulaic novels such as Mills and Boon, lies in the narration, characterisation and themes related to our times and society, that no romance writer had dealt with so far. The plots focus on men and women's every day lives. The thesis analyses the specificities of chick-lit regarding its narration and themes, the links with women’s fiction from earlier generations and the genre as well as its influence on mainstream novels.

This thesis consists of a novel, eighteenth, and an exegesis, The ‘Lad Lit’ Dilemma: Institutional influences on creative writing practice. It will address my research question; how did institutional factors surrounding the publishing category of Lad Lit influence my creative practice in drafting and re-drafting the novel eighteenth? eighteenth is the story of Will Swift, a seventeen year-old Brisbane university student. Will is part of a close group of friends from high school. When he falls for Kate, family friend of his mate Simon, his first semester of study becomes more complicated than he might have expected. Will’s movement through these issues and character development is represented symbolically through four eighteenth birthday parties. The project’s exegesis then analyses the changing nature of the publishing industry in the last twenty years, and the implications of these changes for creative writers. Together, the two elements of this practice-led research will articulate the shift in the balance between the cultural and commercial imperatives of publishers, explain the impact of this shift for the publishing category of Lad Lit, and explore the ramifications of this for creative writing practitioners.