A Natural History of the Romance Novel

1. The Romance Novel and Women's Bondage

M o r e t11,in ,111v otl-ier liter,irv Scnrc, the ron1,incc norcl l-i,isbccn misunderstood b\. nl~insrrcdnll i r c r ~ r ~ culture-book rc\ic\\. editors, rerie~verstllcnlselrcs, ~vritcrs,iild reciderso f other geilrcs . ~ n d , cspccidll\., litcr~r:. critics. Llcbordh Kd:.e ChclPpc1hds cl-iar,ictcrizcd critic,il response t o tl-ic ronl,iilcc ilorcl ,is ,I .. , - \ "dogged insistence on conrdinnlcnt osed. Leslie If: K,ibiilc el,iinls: " [H,irleiluinswork to rccupcr,ite women's subrersirc f,int,isies into structures of p,itri,ir- .. , ihdl po\\.u \lSS:'. Here the c h i n s of the redder's rllcnrdl b o n d ~ g cArc forged b!. the nldlc-domindtcd socicr\.. Ke:.d Gdngul!. sccs the redder's bonddgc ~s poliric~l. For her. i c r t ~ i n thcnlcs in rom,lncc no\,cls "bolster the N e ~ v RigIlt*s c o l o i ~ i z i ~ ~ g of 'f,i~~~ilr * rcililescii~d tllc recictioi~cirv ,irticillcitioi~ of mor,ilitr ,is inhcriilg ill nlonog,imv, motl-ierl-iood ,iild l-ietcroscx~~~ilirr.'" Tl-iils tllcsc i~orels reflect tllc "l-ietcrosexist f,illlilr ideology of our ctllt~~rc" '~tt:,. Looking dgdin dr Hdrlcquins. S u s ~ nOstro\ Tfiisscr sccs the bonddgc opcr~tingon 2 " inrcrpcrmn~lIc\,cl: "The good hcroinc 2nd her \\.ondcrt;~l/tcrriblcr i \ , ~ l push or i l ~ s h dg~insr one mother bur nc\ cr tdlk t o c,icl-i otl-ier ,ibout their situ,itioi~ with ,iilrthing like illrerest or cilriositl: Ilercr ~vork togetl-ier to ,iccolliplis11 ,I go,il, ilerer illi,igillc for e,icl-iotl-ier the possibilitr of,i fcn~,ile-fen~,ile rel,itioi~ outside ,i il,irr,itirc ccntcrcd oil ,i m,in ,is tl-ie iovcted prize" :37S:'. Thcsc critics would l-i,iveit t11,it H,irlcqtlins rciilrbrcc n-11,it Grccr c,illcd "bond,igc" on ,inv ilunlber of lcrcls. Other critics, when tl-ier shift tl-ieir sigl-its to rom,iilcc novels other tl-i,ii~ H ~ r l c ~ u i n s . still ionclcnln the gcnrc. Kd\. h1~1sse11 finds J rci11forie111cnt of rhc trddiriondl kmininc role: "[TIhc csscntidl dssunlptions of rorlldnic formul~s-belief in the p r i n l ~ i \ of lo\,c in ,i \\.onl,in's lifc, fcnl~lc pdssi\ it\. ill rom,iiltic reI,itioi~sl-iips, support for monog,inlr in m,irri,igc, reillforce11le11t of dol~lestic r,il~les-1-i,ire 110t fcideil.** For Ilcr. tl-iese 110vc1s fiiil "to cl,ibor,ite 111,itLIrc ,iilil triill~ipl-i~ii~t ~~ioilcls for fe111,ilclife berollil ~~l,irri,ige. motherhood. ~ n d kmininir!. " Fdiztajy 189:. For Tdn Cohn. " r ]he deep HA\\. of ronunic tiition . . . lies in the ulrimdtc hilure of rOIlldIIic ro pro\,iclc, ?\,en in f,lnrds\., J s,lrist:\.ing dns\\.cr to the problcrll of \\.onlcn's po\\,crlcss- * * , ness 176:. For ~ e c i i ~ ~ ~ c D ~ b i l l o . re,iders of tl-icsc books ~1st' tl-iel~i to fill ,ill cnlptiness ill their lives: "Not fillding n-11,it thcv nant ill 'rc,il' lifc, nlillioils of x r o l ~ ~ e i ~ t11r11 to ~ O I I I , ~ I I C ~ S ill ,I vic,irious ,ittcnlpt to conlpcns,irc for tl-ie l ~ i k of ~rtcntion,ind \ , ~ l i d ~ r i o n the!. gcr in rhcir oi1.n li\,cs" :107:. Anne Cr~nn!.-Frdniis,intcrcsrcd in the fcnlinist use of 2 \,drier\.of p o p ~ ~ l d r literdr \. h r ~ l l s , cxpldins \\.h!. the l.OllldlliC no\ cl is rhc n o s t difiiult gcnrc to turn to fcnlinist ends: "Kom,intic fiction . . . encodes the most cohcrcnt iilflcction of tl-ic discourscs of il,iss ,iild r,ice coilstitutirc of tl-ic - * * , coiltamporcirr soci,il order: it encodes tl-ie bourgeois fciirv-t,ile \ I 93:.11-1 rhcir ildinls r h ~ t rOllldl3iC no\ cls drc dircitccl dr t;'~lldle"pdssi\it\." : ~ ~ L I s - . nl~rkcr, the scnsu~l long hisrorii ~ l . 2nd then she cs~rllincs onl!. r\\.cnt\. of chose titles identified 2s "idc~l" bv the Sroilt'l of re,iders sllc i l - i ~ ~ t ' to stililv. Modleski's ex,il~~ii~,itioi~ is li111ired to...