Romance (review)

Fuchs, Barbara. Romance. New York: Routledge, 2004. 146 pp. As part of the New Critical Idiom series of guidebooks published for undergraduates, Romance opens with a brief introduction that presents such questions as: Why has the romance been designated as an unworthy or inferior genre? How has the genre of romance developed from classical antiquity to the present-day? How does romance react to the development of new genres and new literary theories? In addition to these questions, the author provides no less than six current definitions of the term, underlying the fact that it is no simple category. Rather than pigeon-hole the term, the author expands upon the commonly held belief that romance is merely a genre. The central premise of Fuchs’ text is that romance functions more often as literary strategy. The first chapter deals with classical romance. Fuchs presents the differences between epic and romance. She explains that the two actually function as opposites. While the epic proposes the successful completion of the hero’s journey, romance-as-strategy postpones attaining the object of desire rather than its achievement. Specifically, the Odyssey and the Aeneid manipulate desire and erotic enchantment (through female characters such as nymphs, witches and sirens) to create narrative suspense which in essence are the stories within these epics. Fuchs writes: “We might thus think of romance as composed of the tension between these two movements: the quest, and the constant delays or detours from that quest. The narrative thrust of romance is constantly undone by narrative suspension, yet the latter sustains the story even as it postpones resolution” (19). The chapter closes with a statement on how ubiquitous romance-as-strategy would become while romance-as-genre would continue to attract readers due to its inherent themes. These themes are discussed throughout chapter 2, “Medieval Romance.” Beyond stalling the hero from fulfilling his quest, the romance idealizes the protagonists and frequently presents a critical perspective on the society they inhabit. No longer (as in classical antiquity) are we presented with one version of the events, but rather we are presented with multiple points of view that allow us to see “that reality is apprehended very differently according to one’s social position or allegiances” (42). The final aspect addressed, which is central to the medieval era romance, is the theme of love and its role within chivalry. The focus shifts to the “knight’s difficult choice between eros and other allegiances” (45) while the narrative shows how loyalty to love becomes just as important as allegiance to one’s king or religion. While demonstrating the differences between the medieval and classical versions of romance, Fuchs also reminds us of the similarities. By presenting the unique stages that romance has traveled chronologically , Fuchs underlines the idea that although romance adapts to the current culture(s) and times, the texts are based on the classics of antiquity, proving that the interest in romance has continued throughout centuries. Reseñas 115 The third chapter, “Romance in the Renaissance,” deals with Boccaccio, Ariosto, Spenser, Tasso and Cervantes. Fuchs reiterates how the new romances of the Renaissance continue to dialogue with both classical and medieval romances. And, she once again uses the texts to support her premise that romance works best when understood as strategy. During the Renaissance, we still see the technique of romance to delay, to distract, to postpone, and we also see the critical point of view presented through satire, such as in Don Quijote. In addition to these aspects, other developments include “a hugely expanded role for the female knight” (68). What today we term as cross-dressing becomes a literary strategy for authors to complicate their representations of gender and politics. Not only does love enter into the story, moreover, the question of allegiance is further examined since the character loved may also represent a culture or religion that the knight is bound to fight against (literally and ideologically). Fuchs explains: “Romance counters teleology – and the accompanying ideology of national or religious destiny – with a special kind of narrative entropy, often coded as the presence of the feminine or the religious /racial Other” (72). The fourth and final chapter explains why the...