Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance (New Cultural Studies Series) (Paperback)

~ (Editor) "According to a variety of sources, romances account for a straggering 35 to 40 percent of all mass market paperback sales..." (more)
Key Phrases: virginal heroine, series romances, romance readers, New York, Romance Writers of America, Waldenbooks Romance (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Why read 'em? Why write 'em? Some of us may scoff at romance novels, yet they make up 35-40% of mass market paperbacks. They have a language and a genre all their own that non-readers don't (or won't) understand. This series of essays by popular romance novelists explores the unique qualities and purpose of romance novels. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In 22 essays, romance novelists address why romances are popular. These authors are convincing when they simply write what they think, as when Sandra Brown flatly asserts that romances "are fun--fun to write, fun to read, fun to dissect and discuss." Some more complex arguments, which invite closer scrutiny of their logic, don't always fare as well. For example, Linda Barlow and Jayne Ann Krentz maintain that "outsiders tend to be unable to interpret" the language, images and symbols that recur, but only a few pages later they claim that such "codes" are "universally recognized by women." When disjunctions arise from the arguments of different authors, however, they can be intriguing: Elizabeth Lowell says of romance heroes that "at core, they are decent"; Anne Stuart maintains that her heroes are men "whose sense of honor and decency is almost nonexistent." There are hints of how interesting these authors could have been, had they not been tied to the book's fairly defensive theme. Notable are Kathleen Gilles Seidel's comments on the nature of romance (prompted by her judging a Valentine's Day essay contest) and her suggestion that information theory might offer useful insights on repetitive reading of romances. Krentz is a bestselling romance novelist who also publishes under the pseudonym Amanda Quick (see Fiction Originals).
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (December 19, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812214110
• ISBN-13: 978-0812214116
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,096 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #25 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > United States > Women
  #36 in	Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( K ) > Krentz, Jayne Ann

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Major Mark recommended book, May 14, 2007

By	Remo Chiun "Rogallo_Shaolin" (New England) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

I picked up this book as research for understanding the type of language women respond to. As referenced in this book, Romance Novels account for about 50% of total book sales. This means that from a mans perspective, something in this genre is resonating with with the Venus gender and if nothing else we should see what language patterns are of worth.

I definitely noticed the interesting wrapping of words in descriptions. Where a simple minded man would say "I love you", the romance novelists would say "There exists this deep yearning from the core of my being to express to you the intense warmth and tender feelings of never-ending love I have developed in this beautiful journey we have shared together." And that would be the romantic hero saying this.

I also liked the one explanation where a novelist confessed that she would love to have a romantic fling with the type of man she would never want a permanent relationship with. hmmmmmm, what age old non PC phrase would describe the winner of such attention?

From an informative stand point I did enjoy some of the insight gained from this book. It was repetitive enough to drill the point home, and as an excercise in research was worth the time and money spent.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars repetive, but occaisional good points, May 16, 2003

By	M. Cookson (Colorado Springs) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There were a few points discussed in this book that I had never really thought about before and appreciated reading about. For instance, I liked Laura Kinsale's essay "The Androgynous Reader: Point of View in the Romance". She argued that the reader of a romance novel doesn't neccessarily identify only with the heroine, but also with the hero, maybe even moreso with the hero. It made me reconsider why I was so unhappy with the books that never explained the hero's point of view very well. The essays in this book cover a lot of things, like virginal heroines and alpha males, and the "happily ever after" ending that's so important for romances. At least a couple of the writers made comparisons between the mystery genre and the romance genre, something that I thought was interesting. I didn't always agree with what the essays were saying, but, for the most part, I enjoyed reading them.

That said, it seemed that there wasn't a great deal of communication between the various authors in this book. If there had been, there would, hopefully, have been less repetition of ideas. There's a great deal of overlap between the essays, and the mystery vs. romance bit is only one example - most essays talk about the alpha male, the ways that romance writers were once asked to change their writing and how those changes would've hurt the genre, the type of feminism in romance, etc. Im just glad that the book was short, and a relatively quick read, or the repetition would've been much more aggravating than it was. Also, I'm not entirely sure that this book would reach the sort of audience that the introduction mentioned: people with biases against the romance genre. I was once a part of that group, and I don't think I would have picked up this book - it took reading a really good romance, recommended to me by a friend, to change my mind about romance.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtful look at the romance genre., May 28, 2001

By	mirope "mirope" (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This is a great collection of scholarly essays by well-known romance authors about the genre. Any serious romance fan will find this a fascinting read. I was continually impressed by the profound insights in this book. Not only is it a compelling response to the many unenlightened critics of the genre, but it is also a thoughtful consideration of how romance novels reflect the changing face of women's issues in this country. I particularly enjoyed the article by Susan Elizabeth Phillips called "The Romance and the Empowerment of Women." Also, Laura Kinsale's article about how readers respond to the point of view of the narrative was fascinating. This should be mandatory reading for all romance editors.