Romance, romance, romantic, Romantic, Romanticism, 1789-2017

Academics have recently "discovered" romance novels--bodice rippers, Regencies, love stories--but the ideas in these books have a deep history, one that links them to Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, and Jane Austen. This episode, I look at the steamy bits and their social and political foremothers. From Romanticism to the romance novel, what can we learn about reading, imagination, women, and opposition?

Featured songs in this episode:

“eros vibraphone,” The Books, ShortDocs 2010

“Rise and Shine,” Audio Binger

“Pulsars,” Podington Bear, Textural

“Light,” Borrtex, Creation

“3,” Bisamråtta, Life on Mars

“machinery,” Kai Engel, caeli

“Love is Not,” Broke for Free, Petal

“Encounter,” Podington Bear, Textural

“Night Caves,” Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 4

“Who, What, When???” Squire Tuck, Who, What, When???

“RUNNING WATERS,” Jason Shaw, Audionautix: Acoustic

“Love (Reprise,” Steve Combs, Love and Fear

“Inamorata,” Blue Dot Sessions, Bodytonic

“Waking up to the Sun,” Pictures of the Floating World, Approach

“Etude,” Ondrosik, Nostalgic and Procrastination

“Lullaby for Democracy,” Doctor Turtle, The Double-Down Two-Step

“Starling,” Podington Bear, Solo Instruments

Recommended Reading:

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

Stephanie Moody, “Identification, Affect, and Escape: Theorizing Popular Romance Reading,” Pedagogy 16, no. 1 (January 2016): 105-123.

Patricia Zakreski, “Tell Me Lies: Lying, Storytelling, and the Romance Novel as Feminist Fiction,” Journal of Popular Romance Studies 2, no. 2 (April 2012): n.p.

Blithe Spirits is written, recorded, and edited by Halina Adams. (c) 2017