Marija Dalbello

Reading Interests of Adults

Romance fiction

RutgersSchool of Communication and Informationdalbello@rutgers.edu

Image credit: Victor GAD

Overview _______________________________________ Introduction

What is a Romance?

Genre characteristics and appeal

“The Formula”

Romance controversy• Romance champions• Romance detractors• The Realists

In the literary marketplace

History and types of romance

Conclusion

What is a romanceDefinition _______________________________________

The main plot of a romance novel must revolve around the two people as they develop romantic love for each other and work to build a relationship together. Both the conflict and the climax of the novel should be directly related to that core theme of developing a romantic relationship, although the novel can also contain subplots that do not specifically relate to the main characters' romantic love. Furthermore, a romance novel must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."

Romance Writers of America at: http://rwanational.org

What is a romance? _______________________________________

Romance scholarship

A woman’s genre Primary audience are women Writers are women (mostly) In focus for feminist critics

Genre conventions Constitutive: Happily Ever After (HEA) Regulative: Alpha Male Hero - the tallest

man in the book, the one with the darkest hair and the bluest eyes), Plain but Spunky Heroine Recurring stereotypes: the Rape Scene

What is a romance

Female fantasy? _______________________________________

Escapist fantasy in which a “heroine gentles a warrior” (his battleground can be anywhere from the boardroom to the bedroom to the sites of historic wars) and the two live happily ever after. (Krentz)

It is a “literature of optimism in which the woman (almost) always wins” (Krentz)

“I still choose to enjoy the fact that, somewhere, a warrior is being tamed by an angel” (Kelly Kimbrough, a romance reader (from Tixier Herald, p. 201)

OR …

What is a romance

Patriarchal nightmare? _______________________________________

• Venue for celebrating and maintaining the patriarchal domination over female desire

• Representations that enforce passivity and promote a submissive and externally-controlled view of female desire

• Coping mechanism (escapist literature)

• Displacement of a deep need for nurturing that isn’t satisfied in the context of heterosexual marriage - unfulfilled women’s oedipal desire (nurturing man as displacement of desire for an absent nurturing mother)? (Radway 14-15)

Genre characteristics and appeal

What readers like _______________________________________

• The woman is the lead character

• The woman is a strong character

• The man surrenders to the woman

• The reader needs validation of her beliefs

• The reader wants a predictable pleasure

• The reader needs her own space

Genre characteristics and appeal What writers think _______________________________________

Readers distinguish fantasy and reality

Female empowerment at the center

Subversion of patriarchy - women exert power over men

Integration of male and female in psychological terms

Celebration of life

• Character identification rich and complex

• Story-line rich and complex: heroine vanquishes villain in the hero without destroying the hero

Genre characteristics and appeal What kind of literacy _______________________________________

Personal kind of reading - “sincerity” of writing part of appeal

For avid readers HEA is constitutive element For readers looking for the romantic story but do

not require HEA - romantic tragedy can be romance

• Reader’s advisory requires tact and diplomacy to determine the kind of fantasy reader responds to (reader looks for a particular era, setting, degree of sexiness, overall tone)

• Readers are not passive but active constructors of texts - discriminating between the “failed” and the “ideal” romance

Genre characteristics and appeal What kind of literacy _______________________________________

Coded language of covers

Coded language of discourse

• Purple prose conceals a wealth of information about the characters and situations

• Iconography of covers presents a rich story of the history of romance genre

• Pay attention to imprints and labeling - they determine content

FORMULA I Berger

Download from course shell - Doc sharing

FORMULA II Wendell & Tan

Download from course shell - Doc sharing

Romance controversy Romance detractors _______________________________________

Literary theoristsDismissal of genre as non-literatureElitist

Feminists• Romance reading seen as maintaining status quo

of the patriarchal marriage and power relations

• False consciousness

• Politicized reading of texts; ideological disagreement with texts

• Tania Modleski (1982), Kay Mussell (1984) • Romances are not helping readers change their

life• Romances are over-consoling• Romances are addictive (repetitive reading)

Romance controversy Romance champions _______________________________________

Feminist backlashCritique of feminist interpretations (Jayne Ann Krentz 1992)

• Readers confirm relevance of genre through consumption, individual taste for particular fantasy

• Romance is fantasy - complexity of appeal

• Romances maintain powerful myths

Romance controversy The Realists (Controversy moderators) _______________________________________

Act of reading as “declaration of independence” (one thing a woman does for herself)

Reading as resistance to publisher-imposed formula through selection as a form of critical reading

Reading as integrated in everyday life and as intervention in the life of actual social subjects

Janice Radway study (1984; 1991) validates romance reading without moralizing it

Romance fiction In the literary marketplace

_______________________________________

Publishing programmed for a mass-market

Semi-programmed publishing initiated by Harlequin through market research, branding and product placement (1970s)

Romances have a global appeal, phenomenal sales (Harlequin Enterprises sales in hundreds of millions worldwide, published in over 100 international markets and translated into twenty languages

Mills & Boon

Harlequin Enterprise

Harlequin at 60

“A look back at Harlequin’s six decades offers a social history of love. The first pregnancy storyline arrived in the 1960s; the late ‘70s saw a surge of sexual content; Fabio debuted during the excessive 1980s.”

Programming the covers

QuickTime™ and ampeg4 decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Click on icon to watch video

Historical development _______________________________________ Precursors and foundational works

Novels of sensibility - Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740) Domestic fiction, woman’s fiction - 1820-1870 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)

• Gothic romances Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca (1938) steady-seller

(1960s) Georgette Heyer’s Regency historicals from 1930s Gothic romances boom - (1960s - 1970s)

Consolidation and modernization of the industry (1970s-1980)

Sweet savage romance novels defining genre 1972: Kathleen Woodiwiss, The Flame and the

Flower; 1974: Rosemary Rogers, Sweet Savage Love

Diversity and continuous popularity of romances 1990s introduction of varied female characters,

multicultural romance New lines addressing the feminist critiques of

the genre New audiences and niche markets

Types of romance _______________________________________ Contemporary

Womanly romanceSoap operaFantasies of Passion

Contemporary Soap OperaTraditional Womanly RomanceContemporary Mainstream Womanly RomancesGlitz and GlamourContemporary Romance

Historical Frontier and Western RomanceNative AmericanScotlandRegency (England)Inspirational Historical RomanceSagaHot HistoricalsSweet-and-SavageSpicy

Types of romance _______________________________________

Romantic-SuspenseContemporary Romantic Suspense

Historical Romantic Suspense Fantasy / Science Fiction Romantic-SuspenseGothic

Fantasy and Science Fiction RomanceFantasyTime TravelParanormal BeingsFuturistic/Science Fiction

Ethnic Romance

Conclusion _______________________________________

The meaning of romances constructed by readers, writers, critics Fantasy of female power or patriarchal domination?

Mass-publishing and marketing phenomenon

Genre of female identification