| Western romance literature | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | America |
| Formats | Novel, magazine and film |
| Authors | Zane Grey, James Fenimore Cooper, Catharine Sedgwick |
| Related genres | |
| Romance fiction, Western fiction | |
| Part of a series on |
| Westerns |
|---|
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Western romance literature denotes a genre subset of romance literature, sometimes referred to as cowboy romance. Works within this category typically adhere to the characteristics of romance but take place in a western setting, frequently the American frontier.[1] Though often historical, the genre is not restricted to romantic works set in the period of American settlement but extends to contemporary romantic works that centre around cowboys or other tropes of the Western genre.[2]
The genre originated in the 1800s, popularised by the works of Bret Harte,[3] Zane Grey[4] and Catharine Sedgwick[1] who wrote love stories about cowboys and their heroines, and often their conflict with Native Americans.[1][4][3] The genre gained mass readership in the 1950s with the rise of ranch romance magazines and in modern day, the Western romance pulp fiction novel like that published by Mills and Boon[5] or Harlequin.[2]
These stories typically follow the romance of a cowboy, ranch hand or bull rider and his heroine, contrasting the fragility of love with the severity of the harsh landscape.[4] They're usually set on the American frontier, rurally, in a ranch or on a farm.[6] The genre also appears throughout original and adapted films, such as Last of the Mohicans (1992),[7] Brokeback Mountain (2006),[8] The Longest Ride (2015) and Shane (1953).[9]
- ^ a b c Ross, Cheri Louise (1996). "(Re)Writing the Frontier Romance: Catharine Maria Sedgwick's "Hope Leslie"". CLA Journal. 39 (3): 320–340. JSTOR 44322958.
- ^ a b Cox, Anthony; Fisher, Maryanne (December 2009). "The Texas billionaire's pregnant bride: An evolutionary interpretation of romance fiction titles". Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology. 3 (4): 386–401. doi:10.1037/h0099308.
- ^ a b Marovitz, Sanford E. (1975). "Romance or Realism? Western Periodical Literature: 1893-1902". Western American Literature. 10 (1): 45–58. doi:10.1353/wal.1975.0031. JSTOR 43019990. S2CID 166047789.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
Goble1973was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Derbyshire, Valerie (7 February 2017). "How to learn about love from Mills & Boon novels". The Conversation. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
- ^ Mosley. "The Many Sides of Western Romances". Archived from the original on 27 December 2014.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Last of the Mohicans Movie Review (1992) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
- ^ "Shepherding Romance: Reviving the Politics of Romantic Love in Brokeback Mountain". Genders 1998-2013. 2009-07-02. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
- ^ "Top 35 Romantic Western Movies". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-06-07.