Some people find the subject of romance to be trivial pursuit, but since romance is not only my occupation but a lifetime preoccupation, I hope I can imbue the subject with interesting details if not with depth. And though some of what I say may be familiar to those of you who read romantic fiction, my particular way of looking at it may give you new insights.

Let’s start in a scholarly fashion by defining terms. Romance is so difficult to define that the Handbook of Literary Terms starts its definition by saying:

“Romanticism arose so gradually and exhibited so many phases that a satisfactory definition is hardly possible.”

The two meanings that concern us here are Romance as a literary style and Romance as prose fiction. ROMANTIC LITERARY STYLE: i.e. ROMANTICISM:

• a movement of the 18th and 19th cent. wh. marked a reaction to the formal neo-classicism
• denoting a highly imaginative narrative in which emotion, sentiment or imagination seems to triumph over form, as compared to Classicism (or neo-classic) characterized by use of set forms and Greeco-roman subject matter, but with a dispassionate, cold control.

These dichotomies may also be illustrated in the distinction between Apollo and Dionysus: the Apollonian associated with light, intelligence and control (classical), and the Dionysian with the wildly disordered and also wildly creative, hence romantic. THE PROSE ROMANCE — (Prof. L.T. Lemon: A GLOSSARY FOR THE STUDY OF ENGLISH.)

“a narrative of indeteinate length, but usually about as long as the novelette. Unlike a novel, it makes little attempt at verisimilitude, concentrating rather upon interesting the reader in super-natural, exotic or erotic adventure, often through a highly imaginative and poetic style. (I’m still quoting)

Since the early days of the novel, critics have tried with slight success to establish a distinction between the novel and the romance. By the criteria listed above, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter are romances; Jane Austen’s Pride and Prjudice, and Dickens’ David Copperfield are novels.”

(A momentary digression: These are not my evaluations. I consider Wuthering Heights a perfect example of the Romantic Movement in lit. Pride and Prejudice, I believe, is classical. We need only think of the behavior of Heathcliff, who, when his beloved dies, beats his head against a tree. I can not think of a single Austen hero who would do such a wildly impetuous thing. Darcy, when he has romantic difficulties, writes a letter! If he did beat his head against a tree, both Jane and I would be appalled.

I once assigned both books to a freshman English class at Dunbarton college, a girls’ school. I hoped they would see the superiority of Austen’s restraint over Bronte’s excess. I regret to report they all preferred Bronte.)

Now, in the days of PAPERBACK ROMANCES, the managements of Borders and Barnes and Noble have no problem distinguishing between novels and romances. They recognize the romances instantly and banish them from the fiction shelves to a section of their own…in the back where most people with literary pretensions are ashamed to be caught browsing.

I don’t mean to be unkind to the bookstore owners. Actually what they’re doing is organizing the thousands of titles they have to deal with into GENRES.

There are several fictional genres — or categories — that the book stores recognize: mysteries, westerns, science fiction, and romance. Each of these divisions probably have a few sub-genres, but we’ll only deal with the sub-genres of Romance. I’ve come up with my own way of classifying them, which I hope will help you if you should ever decide to pick your way through the morass of trash to find the good stuff. And there is good stuff there, or else I wouldn’t be wasting your time asking you to read this.

One more definition before we proceed: SUBTEXT. It’s a lovely word for writers. It refers to an unspoken emotion under the words that somehow makes itself felt. John Gardner, in a book for writers called THE ART OF FICTION, suggests this writing exercise: Describe a lake as seen by a young man who has just committed murder. Do not mention the word murder. The feeling that will inform, shape, underlie the description is subtext.

To celebrate, I will be giving away a paperback copy of The Girl With The Persian Shawl. All I ask is that you spread the word: you can tweet about the eBooks (add the hashtags #elizabethmansfield and #regency), “Like” the Elizabeth Mansfield fan page on Facebook, and then let me know here in the comments.

I will pick a winner from the comment stream here, and ANOTHER winner from the Facebook fans, and… ANOTHER winner from the twitter stream!

I also would love to have a book discussion about any of these three romances – so let me know in the comments which one you’d like to read/discuss first and we’ll get to it!

A Girls’ Promise

When her dashing beau set sail to find his fortune, young Rachel vowed she was his forever. Yet as the months pass, she is left with nothing more than her childish promise and the attentions of Seth, a quiet older man she is sure will stifle her spirit. Instead, Seth’s devotion and tender caresses awaken passions deep inside the woman Rachel has become.

A Woman’s Dream

Then a terrible scandal erupts, shattering Rachel and Seth’s flourishing marriage. Now, Rachel must risk everything– her reputation and her happiness–to convince the one man she can ever truly love that her heart belongs to him.

Nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best American Historical Romance for 1998.

5-star rating at Amazon.com.

Review by Linda T from Amazon.com reviews: In sections alternating between the main characters’ perspectives, this beautifully written historical novel lures readers to take sides, and then doubt the side they’ve taken, in a lawsuit over the custody of a child. The author’s thorough research into archaic legal concepts like “self divorce” and “criminal conversation” gives her fictional early American community a solid structure. Sure, it’s a romantic story, but the characters are so well depicted and their controversy so sensibly drawn, that the intrigue of the book goes far beyond the simple categorization of its genre.

We have a limited number of unread first edition paperbacks that we would be delighted to send you.

What I did NOT know about this novel, and discovered by reading the reviews over at Amazon (all 5-star, by the way), is that this book was nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best American Historical Romance for 1998.

We do have in our possession, a number of additional unread first edition paperbacks that we would be delighted to sell you for the discounted price of $5.00 each (plus shipping & handling).

Stay tuned for more unpublished writings and more giveaways!