In 1994, Pinnacle Books, an imprint of Kensington Publishing Corporation, launched a new line of romance novels that featured Black characters written by Black authors. The new line was called Arabesque, and it was the first of its kind in mainstream publishing dedicated to love stories that explored Black life and culture. The line influenced other publishers to follow suit in acquiring similar titles and authors, and because of the number of African American writers signed to major publishing houses in 1994, the year was deemed by the press as the birth of the African American romance novel. This study examines the significance of African American and Black romance through the perspectives of editors, writers, and readers. From an editorial and industry standpoint, it analyzes romance publishing of the 1980s and 1990s and the elements that potentially influenced Pinnacle Books to invest in an African American readership. The craft of writing Black romances is explored through the motivations and strategies of pioneering Black authors of the genre, and the politics of Black love in romance novels is examined to understand the guiding question of this project: Why do Black women read Black romance fiction?
---
In my documentation of Black romance history, I consider why the genre was developed, the structure and content of Black romance novels, the motivations of Black romance writers, and the desires and literary fantasies of their Black readership. I separated my study into three chapters to effectively analyze the perspectives of editors, writers, and readers. The first chapter explores the birth of the African American romance novel in 1994 through the launch of Pinnacle Books’ Arabesque line, category romance novels written by Black authors with Black characters. In the second chapter, I focus on Black romance authors and their motivations for writing fiction for a predominantly African American readership. Lastly, in the third chapter, I explore the politics of Black love to understand the desires, fantasies, and expectations of a Black romance readership. My aim in this study is not to compare Black romance to its white counterpart, as I believe Black women’s history, sexual politics, and gender ideology complicate the idea of romance and love relationships for Black readers and writers. For this reason, Black romance does not fit into the traditional structure of white romance, and the constant comparison of Blackness to the norms of whiteness creates limitations in the exploration of Black culture. Instead, I explore Black love within the context of the Black imagination where Blackness is centered, and Black writers have the power to build entire worlds in exploration of Black life. (5)
Here's the abstract:
---