![list of harlequin romance novels from 1980s list of harlequin romance novels from 1980s](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51um86DO%2BgL.jpg)
- #LIST OF HARLEQUIN ROMANCE NOVELS FROM 1980S SERIES#
- #LIST OF HARLEQUIN ROMANCE NOVELS FROM 1980S FREE#
For example, Blaze novels are not only characterized by a high level of sensuality, but are also always set in a contemporary (usually North American) setting, feature a heroine who is between twenty-five and thirty-three and a hero between the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-eight and have an average word count of 60,000 words (“Harlequin Blaze”). Although these profiles appear to be characterized by a single defining trait ( Blaze novels are erotic, Intrigue novels feature a suspense storyline, Medical Romance novels are set in a medical context), they are in fact composite and are made up of a conglomerate of narrative features.
#LIST OF HARLEQUIN ROMANCE NOVELS FROM 1980S SERIES#
Each category romance is published in a series or line that has a particular narrative profile.
![list of harlequin romance novels from 1980s list of harlequin romance novels from 1980s](https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/333760168956_/Harlequin-Mixed-Lot-of-7-Paperback-Books-Romance.jpg)
The double reading of the category romance novel’s materiality that is developed in this article and the perhaps surprisingly intricate relation between this materiality and the reader/public that is uncovered not only offer an overdue and innovative discussion of the category romance’s materiality, but also develop interesting wider perspectives for the study of the complex relation between genre and materiality in popular culture more generally. This analysis focuses in particular on the format of the category romance – the most conventional kind of romance novel – to uncover the fact that the genre’s materiality is fundamentally and functionally marked by tensions between conventionality and originality, pattern and deviation, simplicity and complexity.
#LIST OF HARLEQUIN ROMANCE NOVELS FROM 1980S FREE#
2 Underlying this disregard is, I believe, the tacit assumption that the romance novel’s materiality, which even more than other aspects of the genre is imbued with stereotypes and conventions, is a relatively simplistic and straightforward aspect of the genre that is free of the interpretative complexities romance scholars now regularly (and, notably, against the cultural grain) uncover in the genre’s texts.ĤIn this paper I examine if this tacit assumption remains valid when the romance novel’s materiality is subjected to in-depth analysis. Somewhat surprisingly, a similar mechanism plays out within the developing field of popular romance studies with regard to the genre’s materiality. As a result, the popular romance genre is largely ignored by academics, who deem books that are supposedly all the same unworthy of their critical attention. Although academics are generally taught to be critical of cultural stereotypes, in the case of the popular romance novel the academy seems to overwhelmingly buy into – and frequently even be at the origin of – the ingrained stereotypes of conventionality, formula and simplicity that surround the genre. 2 Although academic work on the popular romance genre remains minimal in comparison to the academic w (.)ģThis lack of critical attention paid to the romance novel in general and its material characteristics in particular may be a consequence of the widespread cultural prejudice that all romance novels are essentially the same.