A lot of people look down on romantic novels and the people who write them. However, the facts show that millions of readers enjoy this type of fiction and that the demand shows no signs of slowing down. Contemporary romance authors pretty much have job security.
Almost every romantic novel is a variation on the same theme: boy meets girl, they are attracted but something major or minor keeps them apart, they finally fall in love in spite of all obstacles, they have a misunderstanding and one runs from the other, and then they reconcile with passionate kisses. The old-fashioned ones were sneeringly called 'bodice-rippers', while some call the new one 'soft porn'. Movies of this genre are the usually successful 'chick flicks'.
There is nothing wrong with the theme. It started with Adam and Eve in the Garden, Adam's rhapsody upon awaking to find his soul and body mate is beautiful. Romeo and Juliet is really just a boy-meets-girl tale full of difficulties and presented in glorious verse. The recent blockbuster vampire movies are based on books with a clever twist on the same old idea of a beautiful girl and a boy who is infatuated - or rather desperately in love for all eternity.
It isn't essentially myth and fiction, of course. History tells us that men have desired women above fortune and reason throughout the centuries. Think of the magnificent and terrifying King Henry VII, who fell for girl after girl and never flinched from murder, law-breaking, excommunication, or immorality.
Helen of Troy, Delilah, Bathsheeba, and Wallas Windsor epitomize the consequences of unbridled passion. Think what these famous sirens cost their lovers in terms of war, faith, kingdoms, and invulnerability. The women are famous but so are the men, who loved enough to risk anything to possess the object of their desire. Who is to say that the force of the passion that animates heroes of romantic fiction is too strong to be believable? Ancient tales and the annals of history tell us otherwise.
Hacks there may be in this industry, but many fine writers and scholars have penned romantic tales, often under a pseudonym. The millions of fans that take the best of this genre to the top of the best-seller lists and eagerly await new volumes from their favorite writers don't like the love scenes enough to put up with bad writing. Dorothy Sayers was known for her ability with prose as much as for the charm of her famous dilettante detective, Lord Peter Whimsey. Whimsey has his own romance, by the way, falling for a woman on trial for murder.
No one can say that this sort of literature won't endure, either. Just look at 'Jane Eyre' and 'Pride and Prejudice', which probably will never go out of fashion. Who knows which of the books coming out this year will achieve the same recognition and status.
There's not a lot of plot deviation in this genre. The genius of past and contemporary romance authors is in the details. The heroines are beautiful and fascinating, with more than a pretty face to keep the man they attract. The heroes are either fabulously wealthy and mysterious or unjustly downtrodden with a troubled but mysterious history. Their interaction and conflict, along with the details of their lives, make the stories that enchants readers of all ages.
Almost every romantic novel is a variation on the same theme: boy meets girl, they are attracted but something major or minor keeps them apart, they finally fall in love in spite of all obstacles, they have a misunderstanding and one runs from the other, and then they reconcile with passionate kisses. The old-fashioned ones were sneeringly called 'bodice-rippers', while some call the new one 'soft porn'. Movies of this genre are the usually successful 'chick flicks'.
There is nothing wrong with the theme. It started with Adam and Eve in the Garden, Adam's rhapsody upon awaking to find his soul and body mate is beautiful. Romeo and Juliet is really just a boy-meets-girl tale full of difficulties and presented in glorious verse. The recent blockbuster vampire movies are based on books with a clever twist on the same old idea of a beautiful girl and a boy who is infatuated - or rather desperately in love for all eternity.
It isn't essentially myth and fiction, of course. History tells us that men have desired women above fortune and reason throughout the centuries. Think of the magnificent and terrifying King Henry VII, who fell for girl after girl and never flinched from murder, law-breaking, excommunication, or immorality.
Helen of Troy, Delilah, Bathsheeba, and Wallas Windsor epitomize the consequences of unbridled passion. Think what these famous sirens cost their lovers in terms of war, faith, kingdoms, and invulnerability. The women are famous but so are the men, who loved enough to risk anything to possess the object of their desire. Who is to say that the force of the passion that animates heroes of romantic fiction is too strong to be believable? Ancient tales and the annals of history tell us otherwise.
Hacks there may be in this industry, but many fine writers and scholars have penned romantic tales, often under a pseudonym. The millions of fans that take the best of this genre to the top of the best-seller lists and eagerly await new volumes from their favorite writers don't like the love scenes enough to put up with bad writing. Dorothy Sayers was known for her ability with prose as much as for the charm of her famous dilettante detective, Lord Peter Whimsey. Whimsey has his own romance, by the way, falling for a woman on trial for murder.
No one can say that this sort of literature won't endure, either. Just look at 'Jane Eyre' and 'Pride and Prejudice', which probably will never go out of fashion. Who knows which of the books coming out this year will achieve the same recognition and status.
There's not a lot of plot deviation in this genre. The genius of past and contemporary romance authors is in the details. The heroines are beautiful and fascinating, with more than a pretty face to keep the man they attract. The heroes are either fabulously wealthy and mysterious or unjustly downtrodden with a troubled but mysterious history. Their interaction and conflict, along with the details of their lives, make the stories that enchants readers of all ages.
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