Book description
The romance novel has the strange distinction of being the most
popular but least respected of literary genres. While it remains
consistently dominant in bookstores and on best-seller lists, it is
also widely dismissed by the critical community. Scholars have alleged
that romance novels help create subservient readers, who are largely
women, by confining heroines to stories that ignore issues other than
love and marriage.
Pamela Regis argues that such critical studies fail to take into
consideration the personal choice of readers, offer any true
definition of the romance novel, or discuss the nature and scope of
the genre. Presenting the counterclaim that the romance novel does not
enslave women but, on the contrary, is about celebrating freedom and
joy, Regis offers a definition that provides critics with an expanded
vocabulary for discussing a genre that is both classic and
contemporary, sexy and entertaining.
Taking the stance that the popular romance novel is a work of
literature with a brilliant pedigree, Regis asserts that it is also a
very old, stable form. She traces the literary history of the romance
novel from canonical works such as Richardson's Pamela through
Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Brontë's Jane Eyre, and E.
M. Hull's The Sheik, and then turns to more contemporary works
such as the novels of Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Janet Dailey,
Jayne Ann Krentz, and Nora Roberts.
"Finally, a true and insightful history of the romance novel.
This book establishes the historical legitimacy of an important
literary genre."-Jayne Ann Krentz
Pamela Regis is Professor of English at McDaniel College and the
author of Describing Early America: Bartram, Jefferson, Crevecoeur, and
the Influence of Natural History, also available from the University of
Pennsylvania Press. She is the receipient of the 2007 Melinda Helfer
Fairy Godmother Award.
