Guest Blogger, Jessica
by admin on Aug.21, 2009, under Book Chat
JESSICA: Why do we read romance? Because it’s fun, exciting, uplifting, relaxing. Many people refer to romance as an “escape”, a term I find kind of odd. After all, men watch or play sports for the same reasons, but they rarely refer to it as an “escape.” The word “escape” gives the impression that we read romance to get a break from our less than perfect lives, which we are too powerless to change for the better. Isn’t it funny that no one accuses science fiction or fantasy readers of the same?
On the other hand, a lot of romance readers themselves use the term “escape”, unapologetically. They are acknowledging that, yes, just like folks who jog, or garden, or go fishing, they sometimes need a little holiday from their many responsibilities. It’s fun to be immersed in a world created by a romance author – whether it’s the posh Hamptons, a small town in Louisiana, Regency London, an alternate earth populated by vampires and weres, a preindustrial forested realm with faeries and mystics, outer space, the American West, you name it — because when we enter it, no one is asking us to make them breakfast or bring them to soccer practice or have the Smith file ready by noon.
I want to explore this “escape” just a little more. I mean, getting drunk is a kind of “escape”, too, but it seems worlds apart from reading a romance novel. So, when we escape into romance, where do we go and what are we doing there?
Since the birth of the novel, critics have discussed the benefits of reading narratives of a novel’s length and complexity. They are divided on exactly which benefits fiction provides, but are united in this: they are talking about literary fiction. And not just any literary fiction, but a pretty narrow range of texts – Crime and Punishment, The Portrait of a Lady, Frankenstein, Beloved, to name a few usual suspects.
I have some ideas about why genre fiction, especially romance, is never mentioned, and I’ll bet you do, too. But until I started reading romance a few years ago, it never occurred to me to question the ways in which chosen examples reinforced the division between literary and genre fiction, between high art and low. Now that I’ve read a few hundred romance novels, I’m sure that any goods we might enjoy by reading literary fiction, we can also enjoy by reading romance novels.
What are some of these benefits? I’ll mention just a few of my favorites. For one thing, reading a novel requires the exercise of imagination. Your mind has to take authors’ descriptions of smells and tastes and places and people, and work them up into something real. Together, readers and writers create a unique sensory journey with every book, and while every reader might get to the same place in the end, their paths are always unique. If you doubt it, consider the arguments readers have over who should play Jamie in a film version of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.
Another benefit is that reading romances gives us food for thought. Unlike a blog rant or newspaper editorial, romances don’t try to convince or indoctrinate. Readers are invited to respond to the authors’ overtures: For example, what makes a man a “rake”? Can a rake really be reformed? And how will we know when it has happened? Romances feed our minds by presenting human life, especially romantic love, in its complexity and diversity.
Another wonderful benefit of romance fiction is the close study it offers of characters, especially the main couple. We get a picture of the complex inner life of the mind, a bird’s eye view of human character. When we trust authors that these characters are worth spending a few hours with, we learn to respond to them with attention, tolerance, and sensitivity. Empathic engagement with characters doesn’t mean we condone everything they do, but it allows us to exercise some valuable skills.
Finally, romances are emotional journeys. There’s so much that could be said for the importance of emotion in our lives. Emotions are not just brute bodily feelings – although they are that – but have a crucial evolutionary role, in giving focus and direction to our activities. Ethically, we care about what we feel strongly about – tell me what someone fears or what makes them angry or delighted, and I’ll tell you what they value. Romance writers are masters of portraying and evoking emotions, as the many of us who have cried tears of despair or joy while turning pages can attest.
Yes, romance is escape, but not a passive one. When we read romance, we actively embark on a journey with a skilled writer who creates, and invites us to co-create, worlds that nourish and enrich us.
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Jessica discovered romance in 2007 when she grabbed a J. R. Ward novel off a supermarket shelf while on vacation in Florida. She read that book in one sitting and says that ever since, she has felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, so rich and diverse is the romance genre. She loves all kinds of romance, from historical, to paranormal, to contemporaries, and has recently enjoyed some crossover young adult and sci fi/fantasy novels with strong romantic themes. A philosophy professor by day, Jessica started her blog, Racy Romance Reviews, to share her love of romance with other readers and to create a space for reflection on themes in the genre. Some of her favorite authors are Laura Kinsale, Patricia Gaffney, Sherry Thomas, Julie Ann Long, Jennifer Crusie, Charlaine Harris, Megan Hart, and Meljean Brook. Like every romance reader, Jessica laments that her “to be read” pile keeps growing while the number of minutes in a day does not. Jessica lives in Maine with her husband and two children. You can visit her at http://racyromancereviews.com/.
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August 21st, 2009 on 6:37 pm[...] Guest Blogger, Jessica - trueromance bordersblog.com/trueromance/2009/08/21/guest-blogger-jessica – view page – cached Jessica discovered Romance in 2007 while on vacation. Some of her favorite authors include JR Ward; Sherry Thomas; Laura Kinsale to name a few. Jessica also runs a blog called Racy Romance Reviews. Be sure to join in on the fun as readers talk to readers to find out what they enjoy most about the genre. — From the page [...]
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August 26th, 2009 on 12:38 pm
Great post!
Isn’t it funny that no one accuses science fiction or fantasy readers of the same?
They do get accused of it - just not as much as romance readers!
I refuse to be ashamed of what I like to read.
August 22nd, 2009 on 2:32 pm
ps regarding reviews - Booklist and Library Journal and PW now all review our genre. This was not the case 15 years ago so we’ve made a lot of progress. Romance novels are also reviewed here in Chicago in the Chicago Tribune by someone who understands the genre and its appeal and doesn’t knock it for having a happy ending (which is like knocking a mystery for solving the crime by the end)
August 22nd, 2009 on 2:29 pm
Just wanted to correct the title of the book I’m reading - it’s the RITA award winning THE SPYMASTER’S LADY (not Daughter as I’d listed). Some great posts here. I agree that emotion is not valued in our culture as much as logic and that emotion tends to be a more feminine trait. I remember before I was RWA’s Library Liaison for 12 years going to my local library when they wouldn’t carry paperback romances aka “those books.” Then I pointed out that they carried paperback westerns and that by refusing to carry romances they were displaying a sexist collection. They started including them very quickly. Things have certainly changed in the past decade with a majority of libraries now carrying our genre and learning more about it and the diversity of the many subgenres.
August 22nd, 2009 on 5:59 am
Pam,
I agree with you assessment of art. The idea that enjoying pop culture spoils you for high culture (and I use those terms very loosely) is ridiculous, although very entrenched.
Jane,
You asked whether “escape” is more acceptable than “happy endings”. I guess I see the “happy endings”, along with the great sex, the gorgeous heroes and heroines, etc., as part of the fantasy to which readers escape.
I know a lot of folks in Romanceland think the “happy ending” requirement is the target of the most criticism, and I think that’s partly true, both because it’s a genre stricture (supposedly literary fiction does not have rules. The “no happy endings allowed” is not a rule, I guess), and also because the happy ending feeds into the idea of escape, that women aren’t happy with men in real life, so they need these books. Of course, how to square that latter idea with the reality that so many romance readers are happily married …
Jill Myles,
I totally agree that we read for entertainment, whether it’s literary fiction or romance or cookbooks. I couldn’t possibly list all the things we read romance for in 800 words or less!
You mention popularity of romance as being part of what earns it criticism. Yes, yes, yes. And cultural studies folks will tell you that historically, mass culture, just like emotions, has been figured as “feminine”.
Laura (in PA)–
You are right, and in a sense, any narrative that is not yours, into which you immerse yourself, can be described this way.
I think the term “escape” is often used as a criticism against romance readers, so I wanted to point out that (a) Star Wars, a Braves game, and goin’ fishin are all “escapes” in exactly the same way, i.e. a healthy release from daily life’s pressures and responsibilities, yet we don’t call them “escapes”, and (b) there are different kinds of escapes, and reading, whether it’s romance or something else, is a very participatory, active escape which provides real benefits.
PriB –
Yes, the more I have been reading romance and thinking about this, the more I see the ways diferent ways of conceptualizing “the feminine” (from flesh and blood women readers and writers, to the emotions, to the idea of escape, to mass culture) conspire to denigrate the genre. I think it is a situation that is just begging for an extended sympathetic feminist analysis. So far what we mostly have it feminists and sympathetic romance scholars talking past each other (that’s my controversial opinion).
Kaetrin –
In a post a while back I mentioned that venues like the New Yorker will seriously review popular music and film, but their long piece (which was very well done, I might add) on Nora Roberts went in the Profiles section — they would never review one of her books. It’s very inconsistent.
Kristie–
You’re right — we do use our imaginations when we read. I mean, we don’t have actual smells wafting up from the page when the writer describes them. We have to mentally transfer the words on the page, to connect them to what we know using our sensory imagination, to smells we have experienced. Same goes for sounds, sights, and touches. It’s active work, although a very fun kind of work!
Thanks again everyone for your helpful comments. This thread has helped me tremendously in putting together some pieces of the puzzle I have been working on in my mind.
August 21st, 2009 on 8:25 pm
deftly put, jessica. go ride that well-earned super screamer rollercoaster!
and: wowsers. what a lot of published authors seem to be perusing this blogsite.
August 21st, 2009 on 7:22 pm
Interesting and thought provoking post Jessica. One sentence really resonated with me
“For one thing, reading a novel requires the exercise of imagination. ”
I think that one sentence explains why I love reading. I’ll take it over watching television any day - because I’d rather use my imagination then just simply have it presented to me. And I love to use my imagination when ’seeing’ the characters and the situations in literature and in romance in particular. I prefer to exercise in something that warms me inside; something that can put a smile on my face or move me to tears, with the comfort of knowing that love will triumph.
So escape isn’t so much my goal - but exercise is!
August 21st, 2009 on 6:57 pm
Great post Jessica!
I don’t know why going to a movie, playing a video game, watching TV or reading “literature” seem to get less grief than reading a romance novel. To me, it’s whatever floats your boat - it’s that person’s way or enjoying themselves - it can be educational, imaginative, emotion inducing and fun all at the same time.
When I got back into reading romance a couple of years ago, it was an escape for me - I was recovering from some pretty nasty life events. But, now, I read for pleasure and entertainment - even though it is an escape from the everyday, it is not the same sort of escape it used to be - which just means I’m a bit healthier than I used to be!
August 21st, 2009 on 4:54 pm
Great post Jessica, and thanks for taking time out of your vacation!
I agree with Laura… isn’t all genre fiction a type of escape? Stephen King’s books are even more removed from everyday life than Nora Roberts’, but not too many people would be embarrassed to be caught with one of King’s thrillers- nobody accuses thriller or mystery fans of being lonely and miserable with their lives. I would say that the difference in attitutde towards each genre has more to do with who the target audience is.
You touched on that here: “When it comes to emotion, we know that historically, and painting in very broad (Western) emotion has been labeled “feminine” and reason “masculine”(of course, anger has always been allowed for men, so it;s complicated).” and I read some of the excellent, excellent feminist perspective posts on your blog… so I’m interested to know, would you agree that romance is dismissed not because it’s low-brow genre fiction, but because it’s WOMEN’s genre fiction (therefore, it must be emotional, sappy, and stupid)?
(Am I just stating the obvious here? I feel like I am… I’d just like to get your thoughts on the cultural dismissal of romance from a feminist perspective.)
August 21st, 2009 on 4:29 pm
I’m pretty sure that all art is some kind of escape, because all art has intentional form, rather than simply being emergent, its messy, beginnings and ends always receding into the distance… which is pretty much the way life is.
There are lots of different flavors of art. Why apologize for any and why not taste them all? Or as many as you want…
I don’t see why a taste for literary fiction should spoil a taste for romance. Or vice versa. But then I never did.
August 21st, 2009 on 2:18 pm
What wonderful thoughts about romance, and I love all the comments. I read mostly mystery and romance, and I read in general to be entertained. I love happy endings, and hate being depressed. I guess that can be described as my “escape”, but not because I’m trying to escape my life, which is a fine life, but because I like to be optimistic.
I disagree with the notion that only romance is described as “escape”. I think that is true of most genres that aren’t considered “literary fiction”, which, in my opinion, is construed as “good for you” - sort of like castor oil.
August 21st, 2009 on 1:22 pm
And can I say that I don’t think romance is bubblegum garbage? Oy. I just meant that the ‘haters’ think of it that way.
(please don’t kill me)
(gosh, an edit button for posts would be spiffy…)
August 21st, 2009 on 1:21 pm
I don’t know, I equate romance a lot like I do Top 40 Radio. Top 40 Radio gets a lot of crap for being the ‘mainstream bubblegum garbage’, but everyone secretly loves it and it has the best ratings. Ditto for romance. We get a lot of crap for it from the less popular groups, I think, because it is so popular.
As for romance being an escape, it’s that, but it’s also entertainment (as another analogy, they’re kind of like Disney movies). When I’m reading a book (or watching a Disney movie), I’m looking for sheer entertainment. Make me laugh, make me cry, give me the happy ending, and let me close the book (or leave the theater) with a smile on my face.
August 21st, 2009 on 12:40 pm
Do you think that it is easier to make the concept of “escape” more acceptable than “happy endings”?
August 21st, 2009 on 12:25 pm
Awesome post! I can’t really add anything to all the fantastic comments already posted so I’ll just say I agree!
Oh, okay, I’ll add something. (laughs) I think as ‘grown-ups’ we’re supposed to suppress our imaginations/creative side and be ‘practical’. I think books, romances for me, allow us to give in to that imagination we let fly as kids even for just a little while.
I also think that people who give in to that escapism regularly are much more productive members of society because it enables us to imagine creative problem solving solutions and such than if we stuck strictly to how things are always done.
August 21st, 2009 on 12:05 pm
Thank you, everyone, for your comments, and thank you to Sarah and Sue and Jane for inviting me to stop by. This is a unique platform for readers and I am glad Borders True Romance has built it for us!
A few SFF readers reminded me that “escape” is used to disparage their readings choices as well, and I hear you.
I think the meaning of the word may be slightly different for that context, connoting, as a commenter said above, immaturity, rather than a flight from drudgery. I also think women SFF readers are still relatively maginalized (the stereotype is the boy nerd who cannot get a date), and, when they are noticed, are doubly maligned for bringing romantic storylines into a formerly “pure” genre.
I also hear those of you who have indicated you don’t read romance for escape, no matter how positively “escape” is construed. I think it’s part of the magic of the novel — any novel — that it can be so elastic and that we can make meaning with it in so many personally diverse ways.
When it comes to emotion, we know that historically, and painting in very broad (Western) emotion has been labeled “feminine” and reason “masculine”(of course, anger has always been allowed for men, so it;s complicated). Emotion is supposed to be irrational, and it can be, as our romance heroes and heroines so often are. But we now know, thanks to research in many different disciplines, including neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, philosophy, the arts, and many other fields, that emotion is highly cognitive and very important for living a functional human life. Romance writers and readers have known this for a long time.
Janine, I’m going to do a post at RRR on high versus low art, but I think the reasons are cultural and political, and have very little, in general, to do with some objective, inherent aesthetic quality of the text.
I’m sorry I haven’t been around more today — I am on summer vacation with my family and typing this in a wet bathing suit. Thanks so much to all of you for reading and commenting!
August 21st, 2009 on 11:06 am
Sorry, that was my attempt at quoting you, Jessica:
“I have some ideas about why genre fiction, especially romance, is never mentioned”
Would love to hear your theories.
I also want to say that I find the romance genre more consistently uplifting than any other. I love some classics and literary fiction, but some of them can be bleak. I think I keep coming back to romance not because it’s an escape but because it is optimistic.
August 21st, 2009 on 11:03 am
Great post, and so true.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this sometime…
August 21st, 2009 on 10:44 am
Great blog post! I’ve been reading romance for about 30 years, but I also read an occasional fantasy or mystery. It is that emotional involvement that draws me in to a book–in the best ones I can totally immerse myself in the characters and scenes. For pure escapism, I go for SF/fantasy/paranormal romance (including TV/movies/books like Farscape, Firefly, Harry Potter) and historicals where I’m in another world, and I don’t read as many contemporaries. Ross King’s art-histories about Brunelleschi and Michelangelo were also great “escape” reads. But no matter the genre, I need my happy (or at least satisfying) ending. I’m a generally happy person, and I don’t want to be depressed at the end of a book.
I’ve had LOL moments with Julia Quinn, MaryJanice Davidson and Shelly Laurenston, and I’ve bawled my eyes out at the end of a Catherine Anderson book (Summer Breeze, historical western–Joseph’s letter to Rachel just got to me!).
As far as rereads…I reread a lot of books. I like rereading when I don’t have time to start and finish a book before I go to bed; when I don’t have anything in my TBR pile that’s calling to me; or when I’m in the middle of or just finished a book I couldn’t really get into. I know my reread will be good–who was it that called them comfort reads? But my TBR pile does keep growing, especially when I hear rave reviews about series that I’ve missed for some reason or another!
August 21st, 2009 on 10:43 am
You said it. Unapologetically. I unapologetically say that I read romances for escapism. I also read mysteries and fiction for the same reason. Maybe it is because I have been reading romances for a long time but I don’t feel this is a negative. We take vacations for the same purpose and that is a good thing. There are also many other reasons I read romance. A few of which were mentioned above. I completely agree with you that romances are an emotional journey. The more emotional romances are the ones that I remember most.
August 21st, 2009 on 10:31 am
I plunged into historical romance two years ago and am so happy to have found wonderful writers and an online community that’s smart, funny and thought-provoking.
My initial reason for trying historical romance was a desire to read something more positive than contemporary political blogs. What I found was a wealth of well-written stories of human interaction and self-discovery, along with the hope that comes with a HEA. Now I go out of my way to encourage friends to set aside their prejudices and give romance a try.
August 21st, 2009 on 10:15 am
I often say that romance is the most popular genre on the planet for the same reason that paintings by Monet and music by Tchaikovsky is popular — because it appeals to the emotions. I’ve been a romance reader since high school and the published author of 55 romance novels (starting with Dell,then Silhouette/Harl, and now Berkley). Writing what I love to read is one of the great joys of being a writer. And I am still a big reader of romance - I’m reading THE SPYMASTER’S DAUGHTER now. I do tend to read more contemporaries than historicals but am open to both and choose a book based on its author or on reader recommmendations. For more info on the appeal of the romance novel there is a classic book DANGEROUS MEN AND ADVENTUROUS WOMEN edited by Jayne Ann Krentz and published by the Univ of Penn Press. Like you Sue, I haven’t had time to re-read any of my romances - not when I have about 200 bks in my TBR pile! Cathie
August 21st, 2009 on 9:46 am
Today I’m working on backlist orders & reminiscing . . . I’ve not been one to re-read a lot of romances however, when I talk to readers I hear that they re-read certain authors all the time. That certainly says a lot about the author, as well as, how loyal readers are to the genre.
August 21st, 2009 on 9:31 am
Actually, science fiction and fantasy readers do get accused of escapism all the time.
August 21st, 2009 on 9:28 am
Fabulous post, Jessica!
To me Romance is all about the characters and the conflict. How can you not get sucked in and become involved in the story when two people are at such fantastic odds against one another but also moving toward each other? It’s the journey to that happy ending that makes romance so great, not the ending itself. Just because it’s ‘escape’ fiction doesn’t mean the people reading it or writing it need to escape from their miserable lives. I refuse to apologize for wanting to write/read a book that leaves the characters in a good place.
August 21st, 2009 on 9:03 am
Carolyn, ditto on the FORCED Outlander — but so glad they did . . . nobody can play Jamie as far as I’m concerned.
A good romance can be very entertaining as well — Julia Quinn is a prime example of that — I read her more for fun — her characters conversation is always so clever & enjoyable.
August 21st, 2009 on 8:50 am
I discovered romance novels when I was quite young, and have been enjoying them for years. I don’t feel that it is an escape, but various viewpoints on the most important emotion in life: love.
August 21st, 2009 on 8:19 am
Hey! Great commentary! Like you, I discovered romance in my adulthood, and it’s nothing like the “empty calories/guilty pleasure” it’s made out to be. I love your suggestion that it provides food for thought, and the worlds and characters we co-create with the author are every bit as rich as any other type of book. Possibly more so for the heightened emotional involvement, the emotional journey you mention.
Somebody FORCED Outlander on me some years back; that was one of my gateways and I’m so so grateful! I find that reading romance engages my emotions with my intellect in a way that other books never have. Wow, the experience of that is just so rich. (And SO fun and exciting!)
August 21st, 2009 on 8:13 am
Hi there! I just wanted to say though that as a fan of science fiction and fantasy novels, I can tell you that we absolutely get accused of wanting to escape into our books, movies, TV, etc. Just ask any SF/F fan who’s ever heard the stereotype of “loser nerd in his 40’s living in his mother’s basement”. I assure you, we’re just as tired of that as romance readers are of being accused of being frumpy little housewives slurping up romance novels to get away from their own lives.
This particular SF/F fan also reads romance, though, as well as mystery and suspense and a smattering of general fiction as well. And what you’ve got to say here about reading romances being an active escape does, I think, hold well to the act of reading in general. Any well written book is going to actively engage the reader. Certainly though a well written romance is going to have the emotional journeys of the characters more front and center. One could draw all sorts of conclusions about what it says about our culture that stories that plant those emotional journeys in the spotlight are so undervalued and relegated to ‘escapism’ for their readers–i.e., we readers of romance.
Well done though with the food for thought.
August 21st, 2009 on 8:07 am
For me, it’s about 2 things. Well, wait, stop - it’s about a LOT of things - but I’ll boil it down to two right now for the sake of brevity. ; ) It’s about emotion, and it’s about being a woman.
Romance (and I’m encapsulating chick lit, women’s fiction, etc. in that) is the only genre written by women, for women, about women. It makes women IMPORTANT. Further, it says it’s okay that women have emotions. It’s how we’re wired physiologically. It doesn’t make us weaker or “less” than guys in any way. And to me, reading romance is one way in which I feel I *celebrate* the fact that I’m a woman, filled with emotions, and that this is actually a GOOD thing - and in which I also feel a bit of, “Hey, obviously I’m not the only person who feels all this stuff or all these books wouldn’t be here.” ; )
I’m not sure I’m saying exactly what I mean (which is sad, me being a writer and all - but my head’s all over the place today [also part of being a writer]), and I hope I’m making my point in some decipherable way ; )
August 21st, 2009 on 6:53 am
What a wonderful essay! It perfectly captures why I’ve recently started reading romance — it fulfills my imagination in ways I’ve never found with “literary” fiction.
August 21st, 2009 on 6:49 am
“There is this impression that people only read romance because we’re miserable in our lives.”
I know! It’s so annoying! I’m pretty happy, and like happy reading material.
Then there’s the perception that liking happiness makes you limited, shallow, and dumb.
August 21st, 2009 on 6:30 am
There is this impression that people only read romance because we’re miserable in our lives. Which just makes me irriated. I’ve got a pretty nice life-I read romance because I enjoy it. It’s the same reason I read UF, the same reason I read SF, the same reason I read fantasy. I enjoy it.
Falling down a rabbit hole… *G* I like that.
August 21st, 2009 on 6:30 am
Authors like Debbie Macomber give readers insight into how someone else may handle a real life situation. Romance is anything & everything you want it to be — alot depends on what you want to get out of each story.
I’m always amazed in reader groups how some are more focused on the journey of the characters and others are more focused on the depth of the plot — romance gives you everything . . . which is different from other genres.
Thanks Jessica for being with Borders True Romance Blog today!
August 21st, 2009 on 6:22 am
“Yes, romance is escape, but not a passive one. ”
I think in that one line you address much of the snide dismissal of the genre: we are not passive recipients of our fiction reading. We are actively engaged with it. Gives me a lot to think about.
Thank you for that, and for being our first guest blogger!
August 21st, 2009 on 5:36 am
Jessica, you said it perfectly that reading is all about escape. Why not romance? It is a genre that has so many great things where the reader will have such an emotional response from laughter to crying.
And if you think of it, most classic novels have some sort of romance in it. Hunchback of Notre Dame, Phantom of the Opera, Jane Eyre even the play masterpiece, The Crucible by Arthur Miller shows the love between a husband and wife.