Romance (prose fiction)

Romance, is a "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents". This genre contrasted with the main tradition of the novel, which realistically depict life.^[1] These works frequently, but not exclusively, take the form of the historical novel.^[2] Walter Scott describes romance as a "kindred term",^[3] and many European languages do not distinguish between romance and novel: "a novel is le roman, der Roman, il romanzo".^[4]

There is a second type of romance, genre fiction love romances, where the primary focus is on love and marriage.^[5] The term "romance" is now mainly used to refer to this type, and for other fiction it is "now chiefly archaic and historical" (OED). Works of fiction such as Wuthering Heights^[6] and Jane Eyre^[7]^[8] combine elements from both types of romance.

The terms "romance novel" and "historical romance" are ambiguous, because the words "romance", and "romantic", can have different meanings: for example, romance can refer to either romantic love, or "the character or quality that makes something appeal strongly to the imagination, and sets it apart from ... everyday life" and is associated with "adventure, heroism, chivalry, etc." (OED). The latter sense connects it with the Romantic movement, and the gothic novel, as well as to the medieval romance tradition,^[9] though the genre has a long history that includes the ancient Greek novel.^[10]

In addition to Walter Scott other romance writers (as defined by Scott) include the Brontës, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Victor Hugo, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Thomas Hardy. Later examples are, Joseph Conrad, John Cowper Powys, J. R. R. Tolkien and A. S. Byatt.

^ "Essay on Romance", Prose Works volume vi, p. 129, quoted in "Introduction" to Walter Scott's Quentin Durward, ed. Susan Maning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992, p. xxv.
^ J. A. Cuddon, The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory,4th edition, revised C. E. Preston. London: Penguin, 1999, p. 761>
^ Walter Scott, "Essay on Romance", p. 129.
^ Margaret Anne Doody. The True Story of the Novel. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, p. 15.
^ Pamela Regis. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003
^ Margaret Doody, p. 19.
^ Timothy Roberts, (2011). Jane Eyre. p. 8
^ Pamela Regis. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003
^ David Punter, The Gothic, London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004, p. 178.
^ Margaret Anne Doody. "Introduction", The True Story of the Novel, pp. 1-11.

[1] "Essay on Romance", Prose Works volume vi, p. 129, quoted in "Introduction" to Walter Scott's Quentin Durward, ed. Susan Maning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992, p. xxv.

[2] J. A. Cuddon, The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory,4th edition, revised C. E. Preston. London: Penguin, 1999, p. 761>

[3] Walter Scott, "Essay on Romance", p. 129.

[4] Margaret Anne Doody. The True Story of the Novel. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, p. 15.

[5] Pamela Regis. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003

[6] Margaret Doody, p. 19.

[7] Timothy Roberts, (2011). Jane Eyre. p. 8

[8] Pamela Regis. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003

[9] David Punter, The Gothic, London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004, p. 178.

[10] Margaret Anne Doody. "Introduction", The True Story of the Novel, pp. 1-11.

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