Fiction in general, and romantic fiction in particular, are neglected areas of research in the literature of public librarianship. Despite the importance of fiction to the public library collection, little understanding of popular genres is evident. This article deals with some recent literature on the subject of romantic fiction written by 'feminist' writers whose work was of particular interest to the author in the writing of a master's thesis. The article is a paraphrase of some of the points raised in the section of that thesis dealing with romantic fiction in particular. The literature reported is only one of the ways in which public librarians might choose to undertake more sophisticated analysis of this neglected material.
The details of the master's thesis referred to are here.
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South Australian public librarians still publicise libraries with a Barbara Cartland book throwing competition (123)
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By 1981 I had formulated a rough concept that I presented in a very sketchy form to a group of public librarians during a series of guest lectures on various genres of fiction. At this stage I had seen very few of my ideas on the compatibility of feminism and romantic fiction reflected in the writing available to me and I lacked sufficient confidence to 'go it alone' and write my thesis entirely from my own instincts.
In the midst of this dilemma, a particular example of serendipity gave me a breakthrough without which I do not think I would have been able to proceed. The journal Psychology today arrived with an article dealing with romantic fiction. When I read it, I was absolutely elated for it showed that someone else was thinking along the lines that I had not dared fully to explore! I wrote to the journal and asked them to forward my letter to the author and within a remarkably short time Dr Thurston not only replied but sent me a very useful package of materials that led me to other, like minded, writers. (124)
Here's the abstract:
The details of the master's thesis referred to are here.
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Most of the article provides an overview of work by Thurston (1987), Faust (1980), and Modleski (1982).