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As chis definition is ncirhcr \\.idel!. knoI1.n nor ,liicptttd. ir rcqilires 110 little defei~se,is ~vcll,is sol~ic teCisii1goilt of disrinirions bct\\.ccn the tern1 ~ L I C for\\.~rd here, " ~ O I I ~ J I ~ ~ C no\ el." begin \\,irh the bro.11%c L 5t tcr111. l'Ollld13iC. Tl-ie tern1 "ronlCil1ce"is coilfilsingly inelusire, mc,ining one thing in sur\c!. of nlcdic\,dl lircrdturc. 2nd ~norhcr,nor cllt1relr ill\t111ct. 111 ,i c011tcl11t\or,irv book\tore. ,\\k ,it ,i book- \core for 2 Cop\ of rhc I\foiti. LIaitbz~i2nd rhc ilclk \\ 111t ~ k c \ ou to the "liter,irure" scctioi1; ,i Sl,inee the book's introductioi1 \\.ill inhrnl !.ou thdt hldlor!.'~ prose diiounr of King Arthur is c,illcd ,I "ronlciilce." "Gk for ,i ronlciilcc,ind the clerk will t,ike \.OLI to the :gcncr~ll\.; ldrgc section of the store sroikcd \\,irh H,irlcqilii1s. Sill-iouettcs ,and si11~le-title rclc,iscs br ~vritcrs such Nor2 Robcrrs, ,Amdndd Quick, 2nd J ~ n c t L>~ilc\..Cdn h1~1orv 's Illol-tc Dart1:til- ,ind Quick's Dccc/~tioi~ botl-i be ronlciilccs? The!. idn be 2nd Arc, bur onl!. LIcrcj3tzoi1 is dlso J rorlldnic no\,cl ,is I c i ~ ~ i dc6i1ii1s tl-ie ter11i l-iere. Robert Ellriih hdzdrds J definition of rhc old. cniompdssing .. ., term "ronl,incc : tl-ie ston. of ii~diridu~il l-iilm,ii~ bcii~gspilrsuing their prci~riouscsistcnic \\.irhin the iiriumsiriprion of soei,iI, mor,il, ,ii-~d r,irious other this-~vorldlrt\roblams. . . . the ro~-ildnie . . . IllCd116 to she\\. the redder \\.hdtsteps IllL16t be rdkcn in order to re,ich ,i desired Socil,rct\rescnted oftel1 tl-iough not J~\\.J\.S in the guise of 2 S ~ O L I S C ":27+7j:. 'A booksrorc ilcrk ,icting oil ,i request for this sort of book could p1,iusiblv I c ~ d ,i customer to most of the fiction :,iild ,111 of the self-l-ielp books: ill the store. "Kom,ince" ill this its bro,idcst sense besills ,it le,ist ,is c,irlv ,is the Grccks. hldrgdrcr Xnnc Llood!. describes tcxts ~s old 2s the fourth ccnrur\. B.C. thdt re11 2 stor\. of p~ssiondrc 101.c.scpdrdtion, dncl t r i ~ ~ ~ l l p h :C\:#. J c ~ n R~clforcl norcs t h ~ tchis l ~ r g c r scnsc of ronldncc incluclcs "Greek 'ronl,inccs,' mcdicr,il rom,iilce. Gothic bourgeois ronl,iilces of the 1840s. 1,itei-~ii-~etccntl-i ceilturr n-onlcn's ronl,iilces ,and m,iss-produced rom,ince fietion now" :$:#. Sorthrot>Fryc cxpl,iii~s, "In the (;reek rom,ince xrc find stories of m~.srcrious birch. ordculdr prophecies dbour rhc fururc contortions ofthe plot. hsrcr p.ircnts. .~d\ cnturcs \\.hichin\,ol\c idpFL1l.C b ~ . pirdtcs. ndrroll . esc~pes fro111dcdth, recognition of the rruc idcnrirJ.ofrhc hero 2nd his crantu,il m,irri,igc xritl-i the l-ieroii~c." The conrentions of tl-ie rom,iilcc ,ire rerv st,ible: tl-ieb,isic story, Fryc i~otcs, l-i,isilot cl-i,ingcdill tl-iecanturies th,it . . follo~reilits ,idreilt in ,incicnt tinles Scculur 4:'. For Frve, tl-ie essence of r o ~ - i ~ ~ n c c is rhc "iclcdlizccl \\.orlclM ir cnlboclics in its tcxts ;411atoiriy j 67;. A11 p o p ~ ~ l ~ r gc~~rcs-~~~\~srerics, thrillers, horror, science fiction. ~ n d . of course, the l.OllldlliC no\,cl irsclf-drc ronunccs in chis broddcr scnsc. Ir is chis I,irSer group of texts tl-i,it R,idford refers to n-he11 she defines tl-ie rom,incc * * / ,\ ,is ",I non-mimetic prose il,irr,itirc focusins 01-1 amotioi~ \b/~. Conlbining thcsc definitioils we 11,irctl-ic rom,ince presenting ,111 idc,il n-orld, xrl-iose reprcscnt ~riontdkcs considcr,iblc libcrrics \\,irh \,crisimilirudc :nlimcsis; 2nd ~ O C L I S C Son cmorion. Llcscribing nor rhc text bur "the rc~clcc the \\.ritcr. 2nd rhcir cxpcricncc," Kdthlccn Gillcs Sciclcl cl~inlsr h ~ r "thnt~s:. is rhc rllosr import,int elamcnt ill tl-ie ,ippe,il of popill,ir fictioi~" :I j9:'. 1 1 1 Scidcl's ,~eeoi~~nt of re,iders ,ii-~d ,ii~t1-iors. tlle ide,ilizcd xrorld, the non-minletic reprcscnt ,itioi~, combined with the foitls on cmotioi~, become "f,int,isl:" Tl-iese definitions of rorlldncc in the ldrgcst scnsc ~ O C L I Son \\.hdt is...

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