By Sydney Van Dreason
Welcome to a brand new series called “The Evolution of Literature!” In this series, each post will focus on a specific genre and detail some of the shifts and notable works/authors that have shaped the genre into what we know and enjoy today!
So without any further ado, let’s start talking about our first genre: romance.
Whether it be a tragic love story, a cliche meet-and-fall-in-love tale, an enemies-to-lovers arch, a fairytale rags-to-riches, a friends-to-lovers trope, or a classic tale that never grows old, we’ve all read some kind of romance at some point in our literary careers.
Traditionally, romances were written by women for women, but we know that that’s not 100% restricting to male authors and readers either. The overall general accepted definition of a romance novel is that it’s a literary work where two people develop a relationship with one another, and that relationship is the center of the main plot.
Early romance novels often featured heterosexual couples with white, female protagonists either defying social conventions or engaging in a pursuit of happiness. These novels tended to end happily, often with a marriage for love. Today, romance novels tend to reflect the desires of the readers, and we see a broad range of romantic interests that may either end happily or unhappily (sometimes even depending on reader interpretation).
But where did the romance novel even come from?
Once Upon a Time… The Beginnings of Romance
We can’t be 100% sure, but classical Greece is cited to be one of the earliest recorded places with romance works. Though most of these ancient Greek romance novels have only survived in fragmentary forms, there are over 20 of these titles that have been recorded. Of these 20, approximately five of them have survived to today in a near-complete form:
Chariton of Aphrodisias’s Chaireas and Callirhoe - earliest surviving Greek novel from 1st century B.C.E to the end of the 2nd century B.C.E
Xenophon of Ephesos’s Ephesiaka - early or middle 2nd century C. E
Achilles Tatius’s Leukippe and Kleitophon - from the 2nd century C. E.
Longus’s Daphnis and Chloe - late 2nd century C. E.
Heliodoros of Emesa’s Aithiopika - between the 3rd and 4th centuries C.E.
Though they’re not all identical in this way, they each follow a general three-part narrative structure that helps to tell the love story between the hero and the heroine. In the first part, the lovers meet for the first time and either instantly fall in love at first sight or develop a friendship that eventually evolves into love. In the second part, the lovers are separated in some way or travel together, and during this separation or travel, one of them is kidnapped, sold, attacked, etc. In the third part (which happens either at the beginning or end of the novel), the couple falls in love and marries.
In these Greek romances, the theme of reproduction informed the plots and endings of these tales. In the Hellenistic and Imperial worlds, fertility was important, and, as a result, the heterosexual couples represented in these romances were loyal and chaste to one another, and their love resulted in marriage in order to conform to the socio-sexual expectations of ancient times.
The First Modern Romance Novel
Though the ancient Greeks had some of the earliest recorded romance novels, many scholars cite Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (pub. 1740) as being the first modern love-romance novel. In short, the novel is about a fifteen-year-old maidservant, Pamela, who is pursued by her wealthy landowner employer, Mr. B, after his mother dies. After many unwanted and inappropriate advances towards Pamela (including attempts at seduction, several sexual assaults, a brief bout of kidnapping, and threats of rape), Mr. B reforms and makes a sincere and honest marriage proposal to Pamela, which she accepts. The second half of the novel details Pamela and Mr. B’s wedding and how Pamela must adjust to her new position in upper-class society.
The novel was initially written as both a version of conduct literature about marriage and as a form of epistolary literature. As the name implies, a conduct book is a kind of manual that detailed social and domestic behaviors. Often told with a narrative attached, many writers of conduct novels during the time used this blend in order to teach and entertain at the same time. Epistolary literature, on the other hand, are novels that are written as a series of letters. Extremely popular in 18th century England, epistolary novelists claimed that this form of writing allowed readers to gain greater access to a character’s personal thoughts and perceptions.
The novel was a best-seller at the time but, it did invoke some critical responses over the perceived disregard for class barriers. While it was integrated into sermons as an example, there were also several satires written about the work that posed as a reaction to how gender, class, and social roles were presented within the novel. Regardless, many scholars agree that the novel was critical in the development of the novel in English.
Early Notable Romance Writers
Jane Austen - It wouldn’t be a true history of romance without talking about Jane Austen.
Now well-known as a classic British romance author, Austen initially published
anonymously. Instead of her name, these books were simply written “By a Lady.” After
her death in 1817, Austen’s brother published her final two works and disclaimed that she
was the author of the two works and the other four previously published novels. Now, we
all know and love many of Austen’s works: Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion,
Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Pride and Prejudice, the last of which is often
referenced as “the best romance novel ever written.” Austen is well-known in her works
for focusing on themes such as gender, class, economic power, sexuality, politics, morality,
education, and society/individuals.
Bronte Sisters - The Bronte Sisters— Charlotte, Emily, and Anne— grew up in Haworth,
England under the supervision of their father, a clergyman. In the rigid social structure of
Victorian society, the Brontes were socially above most people since they had an
education and could read, but they were not wealthy enough to afford a carriage, travel
extensively, dress in high-end fashion, or furnish their home like other upper-class
society members did. Scholars heavily assume that their experiences as governesses, as
well as the dramatic landscape of Haworth, informed much of their writing. Like Jane
Austen, the Bronte sisters also published under pseudonyms— Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bel
— intentionally drawing a veil of mystery around themselves and protecting them from
criticism. Today, we most likely know the sisters for their works of Wuthering Heights
(Emily Bronte, 1847), Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte, 1847), and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
(Anne Bronte, 1848).
Ann Radcliffe - Though a bit lesser-known than the other women in this category,
Radcliffe was an English Gothic novelist in the late 1700s/early 1800s. She is best known
for combining terror and suspense with romantic sensibility. As seems to be the trend for
early female writers, Radcliffe published her first two novels anonymously, but her fourth,
The Mysteries of Udolpho (pub. 1794), promoted Radcliffe to being one of the most
popular novelists in England. Her full stature as a writer was recognized in her work, The
Italian (pub. 1797), in which scholars observe that Radcliffe combined dialogue, plot, and a
sinister villain together in an intricate and effective way. She made quite a hefty sum off
of her last two novels, and, as a result, ceased to write fiction and focused on poetry for
the remainder of her life.
Harlequin and Mills & Boon
Mills & Boon was established in 1908 with the goal of publishing books in a form and at a price that would reach a wide readership and open their market. In the 1930s, surrounded by the rapid rise of commercial libraries and the consequences from the Depression, the firm decided to release hardback romances. They were initially sold through weekly two-penny libraries and earned the nickname of “the books in brown” due to their brown binding. Even with the decline of lending libraries in the 1950s, Mills & Boon continued to remain a strong market for romance novels, even when the firm was acquired by another establishment.
Founded in 1949, Harlequin Books specialized in reprints of British and American books, but it was the inclusion of romance titles that allowed Harlequin to become one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. Harlequin began buying the rights to romance novels from an English firm, Mills & Boon, in 1957. The move was so successful that by 1964, romance fiction comprised the entire Harlequin list.
Today, romance fiction constitutes the largest section of the adult paperback fiction market, and Harlequin Mills & Boon keep with that trend by publishing eleven series every month:
Modern
Romance
Blaze
By Request
Medical
Historical
Desire 2-in-1
Special Edition
Superromance
Intrigue
Spotlight
Happily Ever After… Romance Today
Today, romance remains one of the leading genres in book sales, including print and audiobook. According to a Statista survey of adult fiction books sold in the U.S., approximately 9.2 million books in the romance genre were sold in the first half of 2018.
Studies in book sale trends indicate that the romance genre is continuously rising as sales of these books, and their subgenres, continue to grow. Looking forward the the rest of 2020 and 2021, the “romance and erotica” genre/subgenre duo is #1 of a chart predicted to make the most money at almost $1.5 billion.
We are also lucky to have the opportunity to read romance through various subgenres as well. Today, there are dozens of subgenres that exist in this category so that everyone can be satisfied with the love story that they pick up. Some of these subgenres include:
Contemporary Romance: often set in the time it’s written; post-World War II to present day
Historical Romance: often set before 1945 and rely on accurate portrayal of period; made popular largely by Jane Austen
Romance Suspense: combines mystery and thriller with a romantic twist of the plot
Inspirational Romance: often feature religious themes or spirituality that play a central role in the main love story
Speculative Romance: may involve fantasy, science-fiction, or supernatural elements (including vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, etc.)
Erotica: romance as central plot of the story; often coupled with strong, and even explicit, sexual content
Young Adult Romance: focuses on romantic lives of teenagers and young adults; often contains drama and coming of age themes
Want to find a new romance novel to read? Check out our active romance bundles on Etsy (links below)!
Resources:
“6 Common Romance Subgenres to Guide Your Writing.” MasterClass, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/common-romance-subgenres-to-guide-your-writing#6-common-romance-subgenres. Accessed 12 September 2020.
“Ann Radcliffe.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ann-Radcliffe-English-author. Accessed 12 September 2020.
Catacouzinos, Claire. “The Hellenistic Romances – Five Surviving Ancient Greek Novels.” Wordpress, https://clairecatacouzinos.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/the-hellenistic-romances-five-surviving-ancient-greek-novels/. Accessed 12 September 2020.
Harris, Michele. “The history of the romance novel.” Erickson Living Tribune, https://www.ericksonliving.com/tribune/articles/2017/02/history-romance-novel#:~:text=Scholars%20cite%20Samuel%20Richardson's%20Pamela,was%20first%20published%20in%201740.. Accessed 12 September 2020.
“Introduction to the Novels.” The Bronte Society, https://www.bronte.org.uk/the-brontes-and-haworth/novels. Accessed 12 September 2020.
“Our History.” Mills & Boon, https://web.archive.org/web/20071013164823/http://millsandboon.co.uk/cgi-bin/millsandboon.filereader?461262c700a12d24273f58d0dc9e068f+EN%2Fcatalogs%2F1124. Accessed 12 September 2020.
Pagan, Amanda. “A Brief History of the Romance Novel.” New York Public Library, https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/02/15/brief-history-romance-novel-recommendations. Accessed 12 September 2020.
“Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela;_or,_Virtue_Rewarded#Conduct_books_and_the_novel. Accessed 12 September 2020.
“Romance Novel.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_novel#cite_note-Collected_Ancient_Greek_Novels-5. Accessed 12 September 2020.
Watson, Amy. “Adult fiction books sales in the U.S. H1 2018.” Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/730316/adult-fiction-unit-sales/. Accessed 12 September 2020
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