“Apollo himself had ne’er crafted such a beautiful adagio, and with that encouragement,
Lord Rayven brought his sensual, masculine lips to Beatrice’s mouth.
And--”
Er, uh, hi.
I… uh…
I don’t like this low art form that is the romance novel.
No, uh, not at all.
I’m just going to go back to my … uh … copy of Jonathan Franzen’s…
Freedom.
The romance novel has been the subject of intrigue, derision, and shame in literary
discourse long before the modern genre as we know it today existed.
Romance novels are relegated to your Aunt Muriel’s bathroom, thrift store book sections,
and that one aisle in Barnes and Noble that you pretend to walk through because you got
“lost” looking for cookbooks.
But it deserves a closer look than that - it is after all the highest grossing of all literary
genres, out-selling its next nearest competitor twice over.
So what actually MAKES a romance novel different from any novel that has a love story, other
than brooding highlanders and billowing shirts?
When we say “romance” it is, like most classifications, a marketing term - it means
more than whether there is romance in the novel.
There are a few defining qualities of the romance genre we can single out.
Number One: There must be a happily ever after - without that, it’s not a romance novel.
It might be a love story, but it’s not a romance novel.
Number Two: An emphasis on the relationship between the heroine and her hero.
So-called “women’s lit” differs from the romance novel, in that while it might
lean heavily on romance, it’s usually more focused on the character’s personal journey
than the relationship -- think Bridget Jones’ Diary.
Number Three: The actual… romance part.
So, where did the modern romance novel come from?
We’ve had heart eyes for love stories for millenia.
But let’s look at a few authors whose influence on the genre is the most profound: Jane Austen
*and* the Bronte sisters.
Well, Charlotte and Emily, anyway.
Anne Bronte didn’t have time for that.
Though the genre did not yet exist, Jane Austen was basically writing beat-for-beat what we
see in most modern romance stories: i.e, light-hearted love stories wrapped in witty social commentary
of her time.
And then there were Charlotte and Emily Bronte, whose stories feature moody heroines dissatisfied
and/or bored with the roles society has handed down to them, coming into collision with their
equally moody and misunderstood heroes, with a lot of ruin and angst along the way.
So what’s different in the modern genre?
Well, number one .. is that we have sex now!
Ok, so that’s a broad oversimplification, but in the past 200 years of world history,
the roles and romantic lives of women have changed drastically.
With the sexual revolution came an interest in narratives where women are active agents
in their own romantic and sexual lives.
By and large, romance remains the only genre that centers women, in that it’s by/for
and about them, and focuses on parity with partner.
This comes with a variety of tropes catering to what you, the reader, want to read:
There’s the Beta Hero.
He’s soft.
He’s sweet.
He’s practically perfect.
He’s basically a cinnamon roll turned into a man.
He’s usually beneath the heroine, socially or financially, and literally has to fight
his way up to prove his worthiness to others.
And the appeal here is that here’s a genuinely good man who is willingly fighting to be worthy
of the heroine.
He is less common and popular a trope than...
The Alpha Hero.
These are your Mr. Darcy’s, your Mr. Rochesters, your Christian Grey’s.
Impenetrable, brooding, cold (at first), usually to cover up for his tragic past, which is
often resolved by some sort of harrowing climax.
And were it not for the heroine, he would always be a curmudgeonly jerk.
It’s the heroine’s love that brings out his humanity.
The alpha hero ties in with the bodice ripper trope - still popular today but really popular
in the 80’s and 90’s.
The Bodice Ripper is a historical fiction subgenre that usually involves some means
of forced seduction in the romancing of the heroine.
She knows its wrong… but she kinda wants him.
Which … is a lot to unpack.
Why is this still so popular?
There is a still-pervasive attitude that women aren’t really allowed to want sex, and therefore
narratives of forced seduction make wanting sex socially acceptable.
there’s always been this idea that “good girls don’t give it up” that inevitably
sneaks into romance fantasy - so the bodice ripper allows the reader to have her cake
and eat it to.
But this also ties in with feminist discussions on the topic—are romances merely tawdry
and patriarchal?
Or can they be consensual and sex positive?
Moreso—why can’t they be Fabulous as well?
Queer romance has existed as long as the genre has, although like most LGBTQ art, it didn’t
get much attention or exposure until recently.
In 1952, The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith was revolutionary in that it was the first
lesbian romance with a happy ending...in that no one died and no one went back to her man.
Considering this was published in an age where you could be arrested for having your name
on a Queer magazine subscription list, that it was published at all makes it a milestone.
So while queer romance isn’t new, that it’s picking up steam is.
The same holds true for paranormal romance - not new, but boy did it explode in the early
2000’s.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but a biggie was 9/11, prompting a shift in fiction
with reconciling with the unknown and a generally uncertain future.
In the Mid-2000, the genre exploded, which meant…vampires, a bad-boy classic.
And a boom in YA paranormal romance that wasn’t just for Young Adults.
Which leads us to...50 Shades of Grey, which is an outlier and perhaps should not be counted.
Is it romance?
Is it erotica?
Fan fiction?
Is it none of the above?
There is... disagreement.
But it sure was popular!
Therefore, it does speaks to a desire, and lead to a boom in the popularity of spanky
billionaire erotica (spanking optional).
There are a lot of reasons for this, but if statistically women are doing more and more
breadwinning on top of general emotional labor, there’s massive appeal in the idea of a
fantasy billionaire who is here to provide for the heroine’s every whim in our very
capitalist society… after she cracks his hard shell and teaches him to love, of course...
I mean it’s not for me, but hey.
I get it.
So for a genre that is seemingly so throw-away, romance has been, like science fiction, a
roadmap of how we see certain ethical/personal issues over time.
It’s a genre that has been almost entirely driven by women, and no longer just cis straight
white women.
There is a common tendency to see women fail or be punished for being in control of themselves,
especially when it comes to their romantic and sexual lives.
And nothing sticks it to your “enemies” more than you living out your happiness.
So here’s to you, the romance novel.
Special thanks also to romance author and advocate Sarah Maclean for providing her expertise.
Her newest book Wicked and the Wallflower is available now.
The Great American Read is a new series on PBS about our love of reading.
The show leads up to a vote on America’s favorite novel.
Who decides America’s favorite novel, you ask?
Well, that would be you!
Head to pbs.org/greatamericanread to vote on your favorite book.
Check the link in the description for more details.