This thesis argues that seventeenth-century English prose romances are motivated by anxieties over truth-telling and the ethical practice of deception. From the title of MacKenzie's 'Aretina: A Serious Romance' (1660), I take the collocation 'serious romance' to refer to the philosophically and politically engaged prose romances of the seventeenth century. Following Amelia Zurcher's work on the concept of 'interest' in 'serious romance', this thesis examines a separate but related aspect of the genre's moral philosophical engagement: its investigation of the ethics of dissimulation. By dissimulation, I mean the art of lying by concealment. Dissimulating techniques include controversial rhetorical tools such as equivocation and mental reservation, but dissimulation is also implicated in laudable virtues such as prudence and discretion. The thesis traces arguments about the ethical practice of dissimulation and other types of lie through English prose romances from Sidney's 'Arcadia' (1590) to Orrery's 'Parthenissa' (1651-69) to suggest that seventeenth-century romances increasingly espoused theories of 'honest dissimulation' and came to champion the theory of the 'right to lie'. The thesis examines a range of works which have hitherto received scant critical attention, notably Roger Boyle's 'Parthenissa' (1651-69), Percy Herbert's 'The Princess Cloria' (1652-61), the anonymous 'Theophania' (1655) and 'Eliana' (1661) and John Bulteel's 'Birinthea' (1664), alongside better studied romances such as Sidney's 'Arcadia' (1590), Wroth's 'Urania' (1621) and Barclay's 'Argenis' (1621). It situates readings of these original English romances within the context of the French romances of D'Urfé, Scudéry and La Calprenède, as well as within the context of contemporary moral philosophy.

<p>Despite its huge mass-market appeal, the romance genre continues to be the most maligned of the pulp and mainstream fiction forms. While academic critics, whatever their degree of sympathy with readers, claim that romance serves to reinforce traditional patriarchal structures and values, other researchers claim that beneath the obvious patriarchal influences are elements that women find valuable in their lives. By studying the shift that occurred in the 1980s, and though interviewing feminists who read romance, my research seeks to understand not only the influence that the second-wave women's movement has had on the genre, but also the value that feminists place on the reading of romance fiction. If it turns out that academic critics have not kept up with the changes in romance fiction, the image of the contemporary romance reader will require significant change.</p>

<p>Despite its huge mass-market appeal, the romance genre continues to be the most maligned of the pulp and mainstream fiction forms. While academic critics, whatever their degree of sympathy with readers, claim that romance serves to reinforce traditional patriarchal structures and values, other researchers claim that beneath the obvious patriarchal influences are elements that women find valuable in their lives. By studying the shift that occurred in the 1980s, and though interviewing feminists who read romance, my research seeks to understand not only the influence that the second-wave women's movement has had on the genre, but also the value that feminists place on the reading of romance fiction. If it turns out that academic critics have not kept up with the changes in romance fiction, the image of the contemporary romance reader will require significant change.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 287-297).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Supervisor: Imre Szeman. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-214). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2002. Graduate Programme in Women's Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 361-399). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ72008.

D.E. Stevenson was a 20th century Scottish novelist writing romance fiction before, during, and after World War II. By analyzing her life and dissecting the genre's formulaic properties, I will show how The English Air is representative of the ways some women coped with the eras of conflict of the two World Wars. In a critical analysis of the novel itself, I will show how Stevenson's attention to Anglo-German relations propels it beyond a light-hearted example of the genre as a whole, pushing against the prescribed requirements of what romance fiction must be. Though Stevenson has never before been studied through an academic lens, her novels were popular and successful, which suggests that this kind of fiction met the needs of readers during the early to mid-20th century, while coping with the devastation and uncertainty of war. / Master of Arts

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Johannesburg 2017 / This research report uses In Dependence by Sarah Ladipo Manyika to demonstrate that African romance fiction is not necessarily escapist fantasy. It does this by focusing on the exploration of gender, racism, national and cultural identity in the post-colonial era in this novel that uses the romance template. The close textual analysis that is at the core of this reading is guided by an eclectic theoretical framework made out of several notions, the most important of which are: Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s idea of fiction as a form of language; the understanding that gender and race are socially constructed and can thus be remade or unmade; cosmopolitanism, and particularly the variety known as Afropolitanism. The research report is divided into five chapters. Chapter I, the introductory chapter, plots what the research report is about, explains how the research that led to the writing of the report was carried out, and locates the report in its appropriate intellectual contexts. Chapter II engages with the formal characteristics of In Dependence. Evidence is assembled to support the argument that in In Dependence Manyika creatively enhances the popular romance in the process forging a “fiction language” that she uses to communicate significant social and political messages in a rhetorically powerful manner. Chapter III analyzes the manner in which Manyika uses an inter-racial heterosexual relationship in the novel to explore gender and racism. The key argument pursued in the chapter is that in In Dependence Manyika challenges racialized patriarchal ideologies and envisions a cosmopolitan world in which the genders interact in a humane and fair manner. Chapter IV demonstrates that the story of an interracial romantic relationship that is used to structure the novel problematizes cultural identities and their attendant prejudices such as sexism and racism, and ultimately raises cosmopolitanism as the solution to the problem of intercultural interaction. Chapter V is the Conclusion. The arguments and conclusions of the core chapters of the research report – Chapter II, Chapter III and Chapter IV – are rehashed here. Also stated in this final chapter are the reading’s general conclusions on the novel and its contribution to the romance genre in the broader context of African literature. / MT 2018

This dissertation explores how a solitary writer becomes a social writer, entering into the industrial and community relations of mass publishing. A significant part of this transformation is managed through writing organizations which mediate between the corporate world and individual writers. Despite being one of the most prolific and commercially successful book-markets in a time when both publishing and reading are perceived to be under threat, romance fiction, because of its gendered and classed status, is often neglected by the academy and patronized in the media. Researched through observation of the largest romance writers groups in Canada, which I call City Romance Writers, this dissertation explores how writers’ associations help shape would-be writers into players in the professional market, negotiating the boundaries between professional and amateur, local and global, creative and market-driven. It explores how romance writers organize to manage risk and uncertainty in the publishing industry and how they make claims to legitimacy and authority in the public sphere. Finally, it examines how structures of gender, race and class shape the communities romance writers form and the claims they make. I argue that romance writers’ discourses and practices surrounding writing and publication are a revealing terrain for the exploration of contemporary issues of media production, flexible labour, gender and community. In part because of the particular characteristics of romance writing itself, these themes are also underpinned by the constant presence of love, as a discourse, an activity and a story. While revealing the importance of affective discourses of passion and love in mobilizing writers to embrace their own flexibility, this dissertation also argues that writers’ affective relationship with their writing is not fully contained by capitalism.

This dissertation explores how a solitary writer becomes a social writer, entering into the industrial and community relations of mass publishing. A significant part of this transformation is managed through writing organizations which mediate between the corporate world and individual writers. Despite being one of the most prolific and commercially successful book-markets in a time when both publishing and reading are perceived to be under threat, romance fiction, because of its gendered and classed status, is often neglected by the academy and patronized in the media. Researched through observation of the largest romance writers groups in Canada, which I call City Romance Writers, this dissertation explores how writers’ associations help shape would-be writers into players in the professional market, negotiating the boundaries between professional and amateur, local and global, creative and market-driven. It explores how romance writers organize to manage risk and uncertainty in the publishing industry and how they make claims to legitimacy and authority in the public sphere. Finally, it examines how structures of gender, race and class shape the communities romance writers form and the claims they make. I argue that romance writers’ discourses and practices surrounding writing and publication are a revealing terrain for the exploration of contemporary issues of media production, flexible labour, gender and community. In part because of the particular characteristics of romance writing itself, these themes are also underpinned by the constant presence of love, as a discourse, an activity and a story. While revealing the importance of affective discourses of passion and love in mobilizing writers to embrace their own flexibility, this dissertation also argues that writers’ affective relationship with their writing is not fully contained by capitalism.