Read romance novels

Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature

【Editor's Recommendation】
Today, popular romance studies has become a vast and fruitful academic field, with an international consortium that holds annual world-class conferences and a steady stream of scholarly journals. The key foundation for all this growth lies in Janice A. Radway's classic book, written over thirty years ago.
Why did romance novels, one of the most profitable categories in the publishing industry, attract millions of female readers in the second half of the 20th century? The author explores the event texture of women reading romance novels from multiple perspectives, ranging from the complex publishing and distribution business to the individual reader's contact with the text. She challenges the devaluation of reading romance novels by feminists, literary critics, and popular culture theorists, and believes that romantic readers should be encouraged to speak out in reality rather than express themselves in imagined loneliness.

【Celebrity reviews and recommendations】
Reading Romance is unique. It set a standard for cultural studies that few have reached: testing theories about the effects of mass culture by engaging closely with the people who are most likely to be influenced by it.
—The American Historical Magazine
This book offers a fascinating and insightful analysis of romantic fiction and its enthusiastic consumers.
—The New York Times Book Review
Janice Radway offers a deft and moving portrait of the phenomenon of contemporary women reading fiction and how those who enjoy it view their own lives.
——Journal of Communication Studies
Radway's research not only explores the conventions of romantic fiction but also examines how novels and their readers confront certain stereotypes, often created by those who don't read such books. It represents an intriguing and controversial aspect of social literary criticism.
--"metropolis"
【Content Introduction】
Feminists, literary critics, and popular culture theorists have often neglected romantic readings, claiming that "romanticism" fosters female readers' dependence on men and their acceptance of the repressive ideologies conveyed by popular culture. Janice Radway challenges this claim, arguing that critical attention must shift from considering texts in isolation to the complex social dynamics underlying these readings.
Reading Romance Novels has received widespread acclaim for its groundbreaking ethnographic research. It remains an irreplaceable reference in the study of popular art. This landmark work not only debunks the myths of popular culture consumption but also analyzes the aesthetic and consumer preferences of a specific demographic: female readers.

2020-07-01

译林出版社

350

9787544781978