This article studies three pieces from Colette's early journalism which describe events or behaviours of popular culture. Her focus is on `being in the crowd'. The events are identified as genres, and the study draws on genre theory to consider the issue of what it is to take up or participate in conventional forms. From there, it raises two further questions: the nature of cultural knowledge, and what it is to observe, then to describe, what is going on for the participants.
Certeau, Michel de (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
2.
Colette (1973) ` Contes des mille et un matins', in Colette: œuvres complètes. Édition du Centenaire, pp. 465—590. Paris: Flammarion.
3.
Colette (1986a) ` Dans la foule', in C. Pichois (ed.), Colette: œuvres, tome II, pp. 593—644. Paris: Gallimard.
4.
Colette (1986b) `“ Les voilà! Les voilà!” 24 avril 1914', in C. Pichois (ed.), Colette: œuvres, tome II, pp. 603—5. Paris: Gallimard.
5.
Colette (1986c) `“ Impressions de foule”. 30 mai 1912', in C. Pichois (ed.), Colette: œuvres, tome II, pp. 632—5. Paris: Gallimard.
6.
Colette (1986d) `“ Le Cimetière Montmartre”. 6 novembre 1913', in C. Pichois (ed.), Colette: œuvres, tome II, pp. 638—9. Paris: Gallimard.
7.
Colette (1986e) ` La Maison de Claudine', in C. Pichois (ed.), Colette: œuvres, tome II, pp. 1002—5. Paris: Pléiade.
8.
Creeber, Glen (ed.) (2001) The Television Genres Book. London: BFI.
9.
Fiske, John (1987) Understanding Popular Culture, Reading the Popular . London: Routledge.
10.
Freadman, Anne (1988) `Untitled (On Genre)', Cultural Studies, 2(4): 67—99.
11.
Freadman, Anne (1996) `Feminist Literary Theory (A Question (or Two) About Genre)', Paragraph, 19(1): 36—48.
12.
Freadman, Anne (1999) `The Green Tarpaulin: Another Story of the Ryan Hanging', UTS Review, 5(2): 1—67.
13.
Freadman, Anne (2001) `The Visit of the Instrument Maker', in Patrick Coppock (ed.), The Semiotics of Writing: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on the Technology ofWriting , pp. 183—204. Bologna: Brepols.
14.
Freadman, Anne (2002) `Uptake', in Richard Coe, Lorelei Lingard and Tatiana Teslenko (eds), The Rhetoric and Ideology of Genre, pp. 39—56. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
