本篇論文試圖闡釋美國通俗羅曼史中男性主角的角色特質，及其自一九七二年至二○○○年間所產生的變化。 對通俗羅曼史中的女主角而言，男主角同時扮演著救贖者和迫害者的雙重角色。故事中，男主角自困境中拯救女主角，也是造成女主角各種不安的元兇。男主角的雙重性一方面增加通俗羅曼史的故事性，一方面也反映女性讀者在日常生活中所遭遇的類同困惑。論文由凱瑟林•渥迪威斯的《意外的情人》及露絲瑪麗•羅傑斯的《狂野的愛》兩部一九七○年代的重要作品開始進行討論，試圖勾勒出本文類中男性主角所擁有的概略角色形象。 男主角的陽剛特質通常藉由各種力量的展示表現；這些力量包括經濟、社會及身體等各種層面，並對女主角形成強大的吸引力。陽剛男主角代表著故事最後女主角終將獲得的獎賞，而透過對於陽剛特質的著墨，通俗羅曼史中關於女性力量至上的幻想方能得以達成。然而當男性身體的力量過度被著墨，對於陽剛特質的描述則將陷入暴力或力量的混淆，通俗羅曼史中的強暴情節也則因此產生。 隨著通俗羅曼史的演進，故事中男主角的社會地位不再高不可攀，和女主角的互動也顯得較不強勢。在一九九○年代之後出版的故事中，男主角較少扮演指導者或權威的角色。拯救者和被拯救者角色地位的互換，讓兩名主角取得更加平衡的關係。通俗羅曼史的故事焦點由女主角身上擴展為男女主角雙方的故事，男性主角的角色塑造更加受到重視，而其陽剛特質的詮釋方式也更為多樣化。 / This thesis aims to articulate the role of the masculine hero in American popular romances and the change of their roles throughout the three decades from1972 to 2000. The hero performs as the savior and the villain for the heroine in popular romances. He is the savior to rescue her from the troubles and his villainy can be threatening to her in the story. The duality of the hero dramatizes the romantic narrative and reflects certain everyday situations that trouble female audience. The discussion begins with two important works of the 1970s, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower and Rosemary Rosemary Rogers’s Sweet, Savage Love to demonstrate a general picture of the hero’s role in the narrative. The masculinity of the hero usually expressed in the form of display of strength. The strength can be economic, social and physical, and appears all but desirable for the heroine to obtain. The masculine hero is the final prize for the heroine so that the empowerment to women as the fantasy provided by popular romances is then achieved through the elaboration on masculinity. However, when the strength displayed in the physical form is overemphasized, the descriptions on masculinity fall into the confusions between violence and strength. The rape incident in popular romances is a product of such confusions. When popular romances evolve, the social position of the hero declines in the story and he becomes less predominant in the interaction with the heroine. He becomes less an instructor or an authoritative figure in the novels of the 1990s. The reverse roles between the rescuer and the rescued lead to a more balanced relationship between two protagonists. The story of popular romances changes its focus from the concentration on the heroine to a story of the heroine and the hero. The characterization of the hero is then more emphasized, and the expression of the masculinity of the hero becomes more variable.

x, 195 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This dissertation explores two subgenres of popular romance fiction that emerge in the 1990s: "corporate" and "paranormal" romance. While the formulaic conventions of popular romance have typically centralized the gendered tension between hero and heroine, this project reveals that "corporate" and "paranormal" romances negotiate a new primary conflict, the tension between work and home in the era of global capitalism. Transformations in political economy also occur at the level of personal and emotional life, which constitute the central problem that contemporary romances attempt to resolve. Drawing from sociological studies of globalization and intimacy, feminist criticism, and queer theory, I argue that these subgenres mark the transition from what David Harvey calls Fordist capitalism to flexible or global capitalism as the primary social condition negotiated in the popular romance. My analysis demonstrates that corporate and paranormal romance novels reflect changing ideals about intimacy in a globalized world that is increasingly influenced, socially and culturally, by the values and philosophies that dominate the marketplace. Each of these subgenres offers a distinct formal resolution to the cultural and social effects of a flexible capitalist economy. The "corporate" romances of Jayne Ann Krentz, Nora Roberts, Elizabeth Lowell, and Katherine Stone feature heroines who constantly navigate the dual and intersecting arenas of work and home in an effort to locate a balance that leads to success and happiness in both realms. In contrast, the "paranormal" romances of Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Kelley Armstrong, and Carrie Vaughn dissolve the tension between home and work, or the private and the public, by affirming the heroine's open and endless pursuit of pleasure, adventure, and self-fulfillment. Such new forms of romantic fantasy at once reveal the tension in globalization and the domination of corporate and masculinist values that the novels hope to overcome. / Committee in charge: David Leiwei Li, Chair; Mary Elene Wood; Cynthia H. Tolentino; Jiannbin L. Shiao