The study reported here takes a multi-methodology approach, both quantitative and qualitative, to analyze one subgenre of the paperback romance novel - the erotic historical romances often referred to as "bodice rippers." The goals of the study were two-fold: to explore the value of two social science research tools - content analysis and the semantic differential - in analyzing popular literature, and to examine the content of these stories and reader perceptions in order to assess the potential of these books as agents of social change. (36)
-----
Commonly recognized as originating with the first novel by Kathleen Woodiwiss (The Flame and the Flower, Avon, 1972), the appearance of the erotic historical romance in fact predated that title by at least twelve years, with the publication of Angelique, the first of a series of nine books written by a French husband-wife team, Serge and Anne Golon. (36)
-----