Being there: Colette in the crowd

Abstract

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. Copyright © SAGE Publications.