[SFRA-L] Off-Topic Request

[Karen Hellekson]

> - Romance / Bodice Busters / Lovestory

Kathleen E. Woodwiss is the author who created the romance genre, with
*The Flame and the Flower* in 1972. She mostly wrote very long
historical novels (think 600 pages), but according to her Wikipedia
page, she also wrote some short stories, so I would seek those out.
Note that one hallmark of her work is explicit sex.

> Also, does anyone know a good theoretical approach (a journal article) for
> the romance story ... I have very little in mind really.

Janice Radway's *Reading the Romance* is the standard work for those
studying the genre of romance. Although it's an ethnographic study of
a women's romance-novel reading group, she does discuss the structure
of the romance. Her reading is within the rubric of reader response,
so her analyses of the romance genre tie into the readers' emotional
responses to texts, and Radway tries to figure out why they like what
they like. I'd check the book out and see which chapter best suits
your needs.

-- 
klh

Karen Hellekson
http://karenhellekson.com/