trueromance

Escapist Literature and Romance – What Are We Escaping From, Exactly?

Elizabeth Vail, AnimeJune from Gossamer Obsessions

“Escapist” is often a word associated with genre fiction, particularly with romance. However, the actual definition of what “escapist” means is a topic of heated debate in romance circles, especially when it comes to the amount of fantasy in romantic narrative. How much is romance literature dependent on fantasy? The answer varies from reader to reader, but in general, romance fans fall into two camps.

Camp #1 understands the definition of “escapist” as just that: an escape from a stressful, dreary reality into a world where the rules of realism can be bent for the purposes of personal entertainment. These readers are willing to support an historical, science-fictional, contemporary or paranormal setting, as long as the positive fantasy of the romance between the main characters takes first priority.

In this camp, readers love Medievals for the epic battles and chivalry but can easily do without descriptions of the personal hygiene of the period. Or they love Greek tycoons so long as they don’t have to read scenes of them actually, you know, ‘earning’ their fortunes working long hours at the Greek office. Camp #1’s motto is, “We get enough real life in real life – romance should take us away from that.”

However, there is definitely a sense of the “personal” in the “personal entertainment” here. One reader I chatted with on a message board said, “Oh, I wouldn’t read a romance with a bald hero. I don’t find that attractive at all.” But which is more important: that the reader finds the hero attractive, or that the heroine finds the hero attractive? To that reader, the importance of fantasy actually trumps the narrative itself.

This leads to the mindset of Camp #2, where the term “escapist” raises more than a few hackles. It carries a whiff of the “bored housewife porn” stereotype. “We don’t need to escape from anything!” members of Camp #2 exclaim. “Our lives are awesome! We’re teachers, mothers, professors, lawyers! We take romance seriously! It is literature!”

I’ll admit I fall into Camp #2. I also used to think the term “escapist” was demeaning, that it implied the romance genre placed more importance on titillation than on a gripping, well-written narrative. Although as I came to read more and more romance, I learned there can be a different definition for “escapist.” Reading an excellent romance, I do escape – moreover, I am transported from the library/bus/armchair where I’m reading and dropped into a vivid, fully-realized world.

As a member of Camp #2, however, I need a little of that “dreary real life” to experience that true escape, that full immersion into the world the author creates. In order for members of Camp #1 to escape, they need a world they ‘want’ to exist. For members of Camp #2 to escape, they need a world they’re convinced ‘could’ exist. I need meticulous detail, whether historical or paranormal. I need realistic drama. And yes, I need a little darkness and suffering and realism. I need to believe that world is real before I explore it, something I can’t always accomplish with a wallpaper historical with too-good-to-be-true characters.

That’s not to say there aren’t grey areas – followers of Camp #1 are just as unlikely to tolerate a TSTL heroine, whether she’s an anachronistic lady-journalist in 1820s Britain or a meticulously researched World War II nurse with a morphine addiction. And I’ve yet to hear a Camp #2 gal complain about the convenient popularity of sexually-enlightened dukes with perfect teeth whose sweat naturally smells like Old Spice.

What I’m ultimately saying is that I believe romance ‘is’, at its heart, escapist literature, and that “escapist” isn’t a dirty word. Despite the differences in expectations, desires, and preferences between Camp #1 and #2, I think we all read romance – I think we all read books ‘period’ – for the same reason, because they transport us somewhere else, somewhere we’ve never been. Whether it’s to a gritty apocalyptic future where we can explore the flaws in the human condition or an idealized English countryside where a duke can marry a serving-girl, is really up to whichever book we pick up.

Elizabeth Vail
Check out my blog at:
http://gossamerobsessions.blogspot.com/

Related posts:

1. Guest Author, Elizabeth Hoyt & GIVEAWAY!
   Setting: Georgian London (1730’s) Subgenre: Historical Romance Hero: Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire Heroine: Temperance Dews One sentence summary: A mysterious aristocrat enlists the aid of an impoverished widow to hunt for a killer in the slums of St. Giles. Scene you like most and would never cut: Weeelll, there’s...
2. Guest Reader Blogger, Danielle Yockman
   Reader, Danielle Yockman: With the holidays just past I still have boxes on the brain. So much effort goes into figuring out how to fit all the gifts into the available boxes. And heaven help you if you have a really odd shaped gift! All that focus on boxes got...
3. Reader Blogger, Kimber Chin & Giveaway Offer
   Award Winning Romance Novels As an avid romance reader (I read an average of one romance novel a day), I am constantly looking for new authors and new novels. One method of finding these fresh new voices is to follow contests. Recently, EPIC (Electronically Published Internet Connection), an association supporting...
4. Guest Author, Susan Mallery
   Giving Back to Readers An author doesn’t publish as many books as I have unless she has a lot of very loyal readers. When my latest book, Chasing Perfect, hit the shelves, a reader wrote to tell me about how she had accosted three total strangers at the Borders...
5. Guest Author, Laurel McKee & GIVEAWAY!
   Setting: Ireland 1798 Subgenre: Historical Hero: Will Denton Heroine: Eliza Blacknall, Countess of Mount Clare One sentence summary: When Ireland explodes in rebellion, childhood sweethearts (and new lovers) Will and Eliza must choose between duty, homeland—and love…. Scene you most like and would never cut: Just one??? LOL! Well,...