Romance Novels and Women

The genre of the popular romance novel or Chick lit has experienced an unparalleled boom. However, there is little empirical research on how this literary genre portrays the contemporary woman and what influence it has on its predominantly female readership. By referencing theories on how identity, femininity, and patriarchy are constructed, this study argues that despite the claim of depicting a new and contemporary heroine the genre still adheres and fosters old and conservative value and belief systems on femininity and patriarchy. In its analysis the study considers publications from the Harlequin Presents series to demonstrate how the publishing house and its authors continue to construct the female character based on conservative views. Romance Novels and Women contributes to the scholarly discussion on popular romance novels and is addressed to students of Literature and Cultural Studies as well as researchers in this field.

Autorentext

Obtained a teaching degree for elementary schools in History, English, and German at Karlsruhe University of Education; successfully completed the trainee teacher program; currenctly working as a research associate at the department for English Didactics at Freie Universität Berlin, while completing her PhD in Bilingual Learning and Teaching.

Klappentext

The genre of the popular romance novel or Chick lit has experienced an unparalleled boom. However, there is little empirical research on how this literary genre portrays the contemporary woman and what influence it has on its predominantly female readership. By referencing theories on how identity, femininity, and patriarchy are constructed, this study argues that despite the claim of depicting a new and contemporary heroine the genre still adheres and fosters old and conservative value and belief systems on femininity and patriarchy. In its analysis the study considers publications from the Harlequin Presents series to demonstrate how the publishing house and its authors continue to construct the female character based on conservative views. Romance Novels and Women contributes to the scholarly discussion on popular romance novels and is addressed to students of Literature and Cultural Studies as well as researchers in this field.