Historical romance
Historical romance is a subgenre of the romance novel literary genre.
Definition
Historical romance is set before World War I.[1] This subgenre includes a wide variety of other subgenres, including Regency romance. Historical romance novels are rarely published in hardcover, with fewer than 15 receiving that status each year. The contemporary market usually see 4 to 5 times that many hardcovers. Because historical romances are primarily published in mass-market format, their fortunes are tied to a certain extent to the mass-market trends. Booksellers and large merchandisers are selling fewer mass market paperbacks, preferring trade paperbacks or hardcovers, which prevent historical romances from being sold in some price clubs and othe rmass merchandise outlets.[2]
Market
In 2001, historical romance reached a 10-year high as 778 were published. By 2004, that number had dropped to 486, which was still 20% of all romance novels published. Kensington Books claims that they are receiving fewer submissions of historical novels, and that their previously published authors are switiching to contemporary.[2][3]
History
The modern romance genre was born in 1972 with Avon's publication of Kathleen Woodiwiss's The Flame and the Flower, the first romance novel "to [follow] the principals into the bedroom."[4][5] Aside from its content, the book was revolutionary in that it was one of the first single-title romance novels to be published as an original paperback, rather than being first published in hardcover, and, like the category romances, was distributed in drug stores and other mass-market merchandising outlets.[6] The novel went on to sell 2.35 million copies.[7] Avon followed its release with the 1974 publication of Woodiwiss's second novel, The Wolf and the Dove and two novels by newcomer Rosemary Rogers. One of Rogers's novels, Dark Fires sold two million copies in its first three months of release, and, by 1975, Publishers Weekly had reported that the "Avon originals" had sold a combined 8 million copies.[6] The following year over 150 historical romance novels, many of them paperback originals, were published, selling over 40 million copies.[7]
The success of these novels prompted a new style of writing romance, concentrating primarily on historical fiction tracking the monogamous relationship between a helpless heroines and the hero who rescued her, even if he had been the one to place her in danger.[8] The covers of these novels tended to feature scantily clad women being grabbed by the hero, and caused the novels to be referred to as "bodice-rippers."[4] A Wall St. Journal article in 1980 referred to these bodice rippers as "publishing's answer to the Big Mac: They are juicy, cheap, predictable, and devoured in stupifying quantities by legions of loyal fans."[9] The term bodice-ripper is now considered offensive to many in the romance industry.[4]
In this new style of historical romance, heroines were independent and strong-willed and were often paired with heroes who evolved into caring and compassionate men who truly admired the women they loved.[10] This was in contrast to the contemporary romances published during this time, which were often characterized by weak females who fell in love with overbearingalpha males.[11] Although these heroines had active roles in the plot, they were "passive in relationships with the heroes."[12], Across the genre, heroines during this time were usually aged 16-21, with the heroes slightly older, usually around 30. The women were virgins, while the men were not, and both members of the couple were described as beautiful.[13]
Footnotes
- ^ "Romance Novels--Subgenres". Romance Writers of America. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
- ^ a b Dyer, Lucinda (June 13, 2005), "Romance: In Its Own Time", Publishers Weekly, retrieved 2007-04-30
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Romance Writers of America's 2005 Market Research Study on Romance Readers" (PDF). Romance Writers of America. 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
- ^ a b c Athitakis, Mark (July 25, 2001), "A Romance Glossary", SF Weekly, retrieved 2007-04-23
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Zaitchik, Alexander (July 22, 2003), "The Romance Writers of America convention is just super", New York Press, retrieved 2007-04-30
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Thurston, pp 47-48.
- ^ a b
Darrach, Brad (January 17, 1977), "Rosemary's Babies", Time, retrieved 2007-07-17
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ White, Pamela (August 15, 2002), "Romancing Society", Boulder Weekly, retrieved 2007-04-23
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Thurston, p 67.
- ^ Thurston, p 72.
- ^ Grossman, Lev (February 3, 2003), "Rewriting the Romance" (PDF), Time, retrieved 2007-04-03
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Crusie, Jennifer (1998), "This Is Not Your Mother's Cinderella: The Romance Novel as Feminist Fairy Tale", in Kaler, Anne; Johnson-Kurek, Rosemary (eds.), Romantic Conventions, Bowling Green Press, pp. 51–61
- ^ Thurston, p 75.
References
- Thurston, Carol (1987). The Romance Revolution. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-014421-1.
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