Lately I’ve been hesitating about posting on certain topics that are already under discussion on other blogs.
I’ve been wondering whether adding my two cents on issues that are already being discussed in several other places is worth it. Or is my desire to have my say and record my opinion enough?
For example, the topic of race and the cover image of Justine Larbalestier’s Liar has generated controversy across the blogosphere.
Second, the topic of abortion and romance came up over at Dear Author. This inspired Laura Vivanco to post more generally on politics in romance at Teach Me Tonight, but many of the comments touched on the abortion question as well. In that post, Laura linked to a discussion at AAR taking place at the same time about emergency contraception. Some others decided to post their own thoughts on abortion and romance on their own blogs as well.
A third example is the ad for a book about incest at the Smart Bitches website, first discussed by Karen Scott, and then picked up by others.
I feel like I wear two hats when I blog. One hat is very academic: only say something if no one else has (or if no one has said it your way), i.e. “I’m contributing in some small way to knowledge!”
The other hat is a personal blogger hat where a blog is my mouthpiece, i.e. “I want you to know what I personally think! Even if it’s what everyone else thinks! Even if that other gal said it much earlier and much better!”
As to the latter, another question I ask myself is whether I need to have my say here, or someplace else. I kept mum on the Liar controversy, although I think blogger reaction contributed to a positive outcome (a new cover), so I wonder if I shouldn’t have added my voice to the chorus as a matter of civic duty. I contributed to the good discussion over at Karen’s and feel done with that. But I’ve been holding back a veritable novel of a post on abortion. After a 90 comment thread at DA and discussion several other places, who cares what I think?
I feel this tension with reviewing, too. I want this blog to record what I’ve read (thinking of my own wants), but I’m hesitant to write reviews of books that have just been reviewed from here to Sunday everywhere else (thinking about readers’ desires). Hence, my post on Attitudes Towards Women in Loretta Chase’s Don’t Tempt Me. I felt I had something new to say about that book. But what if I hadn’t? What if I had the same things to say about it that virtually everyone has reached consensus on in Romanceland (not her best, not her worst, characterization of heroine problematic, stereotyping of sisters)?
Someone will comment “It’s your blog, you can say whatever I want.”
But, “It’s your blog, you can say whatever you want”, while true, doesn’t really help, if I want two things that are sometimes inconsistent: both to keep a personal record at RRR of my thoughts about certain books and controversies in Romanceland, and to maintain and grow an audience.
So, tell me, do you ever not post things you might enjoy or get something out of writing because you think no one else will enjoy or get anything out of reading them?
And how do you decide where to have your say — in the comments of another blog, or your own blog, or not at all?
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#1 by Chris on August 10, 2009 - 9:31 pm
While I provide reviewettes and cover links to most of the books I read, I don’t to all of them because I know certain things about parts of my audience (who I may know f2f personally, or through extended email/comment conversation) that leads me to believe my complete reading list would be the last straw. (I have a weakness for m/m and/or erotic romance and some of the covers involved are so not tasteful.)
I do participate in comments when something moves me, and consider that to be my part in the conversation. (See, for example, this comment.)
Having been an academic once upon a time (my MS thesis (2000) was on how people develop their character and credibility (ethos) through online discourse), I can completely sympathize with the dichotomy you’re experiencing!
#2 by Nicola O. on August 10, 2009 - 10:41 pm
Heh. I don’t worry about being a productive member of society. It’s my blog and I’ll blather redundantly if I want to.
Seriously though: After a 90 comment thread at DA and discussion several other places, who cares what I think?
Well, I do. I would love to have a blog that generates 90 comments on a post, but I’ll tell you a secret: I don’t read those blogs and I sure don’t read 100-item comment strings. So yeah, if I want to know what YOU think, because I’m interested in YOUR opinion and I like YOUR voice, I’ll gladly come here and read a whole ‘nother post on a topic I’ve seen here and there.
For whatever that’s worth.
#3 by Karen Scott on August 11, 2009 - 12:06 am
Blogging about what you want to blog about, although cliched, is exactly right.
The main and only consideration for me is, do I have something to say? It doesn’t matter whether you’re the 1st or the 100th blogger to write about the same topic. If you have an opinion, I think you owe it to yourself to air it, otherwise you may get too caught up in blogging politics, and start worrying unnecessarily about what others think of you and your blog.
Also, if I feel strongly about a topic that’s being discussed, why waste it on somebody else’s blog? I’d always take it back to mine, because the people who read my blog, may have a different take on things altogether. Plus I want people to read what I write, so why put it on a thread full of hundreds of other comments?
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, your voice and opinion matters, even if it’s a topic that’s been discussed to death.
#4 by Laura Vivanco on August 11, 2009 - 2:50 am
As Karen and Nicola say, your blog’s readers may not have been to the other blog(s) on which the topic first appeared. If they have seen the discussions elsewhere they may nonetheless approach the topic differently when they see it here, either because of how you frame the question, or because of what they know about the tone of this particular blog, or for both of those reasons.
I very strongly suspect that any post you wrote would be significantly different from anyone else’s, even when you were posting on exactly the same topic. After all, when a whole lot of you posted simultaneously about Pam Rosenthal’s latest novel, you were all writing about the same topic, but the resulting posts were different.
For what it’s worth, I’m glad I wrote my post about politics in romance, because writing it, and reading and responding to the comments I got, helped me think through the issue. And if TMT’s readers hadn’t been interested, I don’t think I’d have ended up with so many comments (small by comparison with the number on DA’s thread, but TMT is minute compared to DA).
Even if they hadn’t been interested, I wouldn’t have been wasting their time to any significant extent, because they could easily and quickly have moved away to another site, to read something of more interest to them.
#5 by Tumperkin on August 11, 2009 - 3:07 am
This is such an interesting topic to me. I’m really quite clear on what my blogging agenda is and it chimes with what Nicola and Karen said. For me, blogging is an absolutely personal activity and I blog when I feel I have something to say – regardless of how topical or not it is and whether or not it’s been covered somewhere else. Whilst I do blog about books that have come out fairly recently, I am just as – if not more – likely to blog about books that have been out for ages. And I only blog about 20-30% of the books I read. There has to be something to say for me to blog. When I’m blogging for other people, I will agree to review a book in advance and review it no matter what. But I for my own blog, it’s only when the spirit moves me!
I wouldn’t presume tell you what your blogging agenda should be but what I can say is that I’d love to read your abortion post. I do follow Dear Author regularly, but I’m less likely to read that sort of post over there and am highly unlikely to get into the comments thread. It’s trying to be involved in such a lengthy comments thread (and on that sort of topic they’re always lengthy at DA). It feels impersonal and less like a conversation to me. Plus I’m sure you’d bring something different to the discussion that I’d appreciate. So, no, I wouldn’t personally see it as repetition.
I visit different sites for different reasons. DA is fabulous for the consistency and regularity of the reviews and the ‘newsy’ feel – I sort of feel it’s my keeping-up-to-date blog. Teach Me Tonight is academic and thoughtful, not a place for finding new books to read or authors to discover but a place to reflect on the bigger questions the genre provokes. The Thrillionth Page is funny and quirky and I’m guaranteed a fresh take on books there. I could go on…
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that every blog I read has it’s own USP, but my favourites do. And your core USP (for me) is that you have really great substantive content – you engage with political (small p) and ethical issues in a fresh way through the romance genre. (I really love your funny stuff too BTW). So I suppose, for this reader only, I want you to blog about whatever it is that captures your interest and makes you want to share an opinion.
#6 by Ann Somerville on August 11, 2009 - 3:36 am
Ditto that. I would rather read your words in your own blog, than drowned out on another blog by people I don’t respect or follow. Put bluntly – if you talk about an issue at Karen’s blog, I will likely never see it, unless you link your comment here. But I have your blog on feed. That’s how I filter out the sane from the stupid.
#7 by Kaetrin on August 11, 2009 - 4:30 am
I have a blog but I don’t actually, er, blog. At least not yet. Maybe never.
I just decided that I’d like to be more open and “visible” on the net and when I comment at these types of forums, so I opened a blogger account.
Maybe one day, I will feel confident enough to write posts and either not care if people read and respond or expect (and find I’m right! *g*) that people will be interested in what I’ve got to say. I suppose my introduction to even the idea of blogging comes from commenting in places like RRR and engaging in “conversations” albeit in a small way.
Since I “discovered” RRR, I’ve been coming here daily just about to see what’s new and I’ve enjoyed your posts and your take on books even if I’ve read a similar topic or about the same book elsewhere. In fact, I find it useful to read differing views about the same topic – I find it thought provoking and it helps to “filter out” bias (that isn’t the exact word I was looking for, but I hope you get what I mean).
So, I guess, in a totally long-winded way, I wanted to “hear, hear” the other comments above – blog about what interests you regardless of whether you’ve seen it before – your take will be different in some way or will tie various posts together or will inspire a comment from someone who may not have engaged in the debate elsewhere. I enjoy your take on things – even if I don’t share your view (which does happen sometimes!), it will at least make me think. And, I do so enjoy your sense of the absurd.
FWIW, I think that the latter is a natural corollary of the former.
#8 by medumb on August 11, 2009 - 4:31 am
At the moment, I am just a reader of blogs, not a blogger and from my point of view, I do not care whether all my fav bloggers blog on the same topic, I actually find it interesting to get the differing views.
Even if people are in agreement on the same thing, I generally find something new, a new perspective, a diff reason a book worked or didn’t, with each blog, if that makes sense?
Plus the readers who are not nutjobs like me spending way too much time travelling through blogland, may not see the other posts, so you often get differing comments.
#9 by katiebabs on August 11, 2009 - 7:26 am
I come up posts that interest me and I think will interest others. When it comes to books, if one has been reviewed all over the place, I will pass because what more can I add that hasn’t already?
Blog what you want and what you enjoy talking about.
For some blogs it is all about the amount of traffic they can get, for others just to have a good time.
#10 by BevBB on August 11, 2009 - 8:12 am
Would it help if someone spoke up and said that there are those of us who don’t actually spend a whole lot of time on Dear Author or Smart Bitches? And more specifically tracking those controversial topics? So, whatever you had to say would be new? Just saying.
Seriously, while topic redundancy can always be a problem – there are one or two topics with the community I could literally recite talking points on from memory without cue cards – I do think it’s easy to overlook the flipside which is that there’s less reader overlap as one might expect between many blogs. Yeah, there are a couple of romance sites/blogs that have large audiences but that doesn’t necessarily mean that even every single romance reader online visits their site even so. So what we’re really talking about is that every blog has their own unique group of readers and attracts them for various reasons.
There are sometimes controversial topics going on within the community that I won’t even hear about for weeks – even if I’m following some of the major sites.
Why?
Because I don’t necessarily read every single post closely and definitely don’t read all those long comment threads.
I wouldn’t worry about it. Write from your passion and perspective. Write from what interests you about whatever topic catches your attention. The rest will follow.
#11 by Carolyn Crane on August 11, 2009 - 8:46 am
I’d like to hear your views on the abortion bit, too. Maybe you could embed it in the comments of your own blog as a halfway measure between your two choices!
One thing, I don’t feel these two are inconsistent:
.
In fact, I think people are more likely to visit when they see you are posting about a book or topic they have an opinion on, unless you have a record of never adding anything new to the conversation. And you have the exact opposite. So, even if you’re chiming in, inquiring minds want to know.
#12 by jillsorenson on August 11, 2009 - 8:59 am
Tumperkin made a good point. I often avoid controversial topics at the “bigger” sites (because of the long thread, or large audience), but will comment on the same issue elsewhere.
#13 by SarahT on August 11, 2009 - 9:01 am
I write what I want to read. If other people are interested in what I have to say, all the better. I’d kill my motivation to blog if I felt I was writing primarily to please others.
That said, my blog does have a certain focus and this is partly dictated by the knowledge that anyone can read what I post. My blog is about me as a reader and I try to avoid too many references to my family and other aspects of my personal life. So, yes, there are certain topics I find interesting or amusing which I wouldn’t use as blog fodder.
#14 by Casee on August 11, 2009 - 10:07 am
I think that above all, you should blog for yourself.
As for deciding if/when to blog about a topic that’s already been discussed, I think it’s a matter of how important the topic is to you. If you feel like you can get your thoughts out there in a short comment, that’s great. If not, you should blog about it. Why not?
The sites that have 50+ comments are hard to keep up with. So I know that I would rather read a post from some bloggers rather than scroll through all the comments. You know?
#15 by azteclady on August 11, 2009 - 10:59 am
You have a very unique way of approaching issues, Jessica, so I for one always want to ‘hear’ what you have to say.
To answer your question, though, I think it’s a balance between expressing yourself and being comfortable with what you put out there–but I think that holds true for commenting on other people’s blogs as well, doesn’t it?
Blog about what you feel like blogging–as SarahT said, I’d kill my motivation to blog if I felt I was writing primarily to please others..
#16 by Heloise on August 11, 2009 - 11:48 am
I have a sneaking suspicion that if you decided to write a blog that really had no unique insight or perspective on a particular issue that you would quit half way through.
I do not follow the larger sites regularly, I come here not just for unique perspectives or issues, although I often find them, but for arguments/ideas laid out in a well written informative fashion. So please, blog on.
#17 by Maili on August 11, 2009 - 12:54 pm
What @Casee said, especially this: “I think it’s a matter of how important the topic is to you.”
That said, I should point out blogs aren’t permanent. Blogs disappear every day. There are so much intellectual and anecdotal wealth in the output from the online romance community during last ten or fifteen years, but most of them are forgotten today.
So you should write whatever interests you now, especially if it’s to get responses you would like to hear from your audience.
In other words don’t worry about tomorrow, just focus on what interests you now, even if a topic seems to be in danger of becoming a dead horse.
I have an ongoing interest in the social history of mixed race people, but unless it’s related to romance novels, I rarely blogged about it and responded to blog posts about it in Romanceland.
On the other hand, I had – and still have – zero interest in Scottish history and for various reasons, I dislike Scotland. And yet I frequently blogged about Scotland and its history in my old blogs.
I did it because I found shocking many Scottish historical romance novels didn’t even get the basics of Scottish history straight and that many readers nursed misconceptions about Scotland. I felt it was my “duty” to rectify that.
Excuse me for repeating this point: write you want as long as you feel it’s worth your time.
#18 by Angela Toscano on August 11, 2009 - 1:04 pm
I’m pretty sure that the only people who read my blog are my relations and this one random dude who I managed to offend. My relations should be highly aware by this point in my existence that I am not a very nice person and therefore should fail to be offended by anything I say regardless of how offensive it is. This is a very long way of saying that I blog mostly for myself. I choose topics based on what I find interesting at the time or what I am trying to work through. Occasionally this adds up to repetitive posts. As a writer I’ve never been much concerned with audience or judges. I’d rather just dance my new steps than win the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix.
But seriously, I mostly lurk. I very rarely add my two-cents even when I feel strongly on a topic by commenting on other blog posts. As for my own blog, it has to be something that I find amusing enough to bother with or else I will never overcome my natural laziness. I don’t get conflicted much but that’s probably because I didn’t have much of an idea about what my blog would focus on to begin with, so I can just go where my whims take me.
#19 by Meri on August 11, 2009 - 1:18 pm
This is probably going to echo previous comments, but I really think the important thing is to blog about things that matter to you. I don’t care if SBTB or DA or Karen already have something similar on the same topic: it’s your voice, your persepctive and your take on it that I’m curious about when I come here. I don’t expect bloggers to write what I care about, I expect them to write what they care about, and if it’s interesting to me, I’ll stick around.
I’m sure you could address subjects and books that have been discussed by others and still have something of value to add. It’s like genre fiction (and romance specifically!) – the themes, characters and storylines may not be new or unique, but a good author makes them feel fresh and interesting.
#20 by Wendy on August 11, 2009 - 5:36 pm
I’m trying to figure out a good way to say this, but my brain isn’t working – so I’ll just spit it out.
You’re over-thinking it.
The whole point of blogging is to blog about what YOU want to. To say what you want to say. If other people dig it? That’s cool. If they don’t? Oh well. They suck anyway and you don’t want them on your blog. Ha!
Everybody is so hot to trot to have an agenda of some sort for their blog and I’m like “why?!?!?!” I literally started my blog with no plan, no structure, no nothing. Hell, I started it one day because I was bored and I thought it would amuse me. I literally just threw shit up on my Internet wall for a couple of years before I finally settled in. And as for people reading it? Hell, I don’t think anybody read my blog those first few years that wasn’t blood related. And you know what? I didn’t care. I kept on keeping on.
As for when to jump into the fray on discussions and where? I’ll leave comments on blogs if I can keep it short. If I feel the need to ramble on for a while? I take it to my own blog and link to the other discussion.
Um, which means I probably should have done that here. But seriously. Blog about whatever the heck you want. There is no secret handshake or rule book. That’s the whole beauty of the thing.
#21 by Jessica on August 11, 2009 - 6:26 pm
Just back from a very long, tense meeting on brain death and am thrilled to see all these comments.
Three quick things:
1. I expected you guys to only talk about what you personally do. I did not mean to ask you to help me with my dilemma, or to troll for encouragement, yet help and encouragement I got. Thank you.
2. I did not mean to give the impression that I only read or care about what the “big blogs” say or do. I do think they tend to be out there first with some kinds of news, although I think Katiebabs tends to scoop everyone on a weekly basis! The dilemma is the same for me if any of the blogs I read have discussed an issue, big or small.
3. It’s not about having an agenda or gaining in numbers. I’m totally thrilled with my blog, and have no ambitions I haven’t met, except to finish writing posts I am working on and to keep blogging.
But here’s the thing: if you really don’t care about anyone else, then why have a blog? Why not just keep a diary on your hard drive?
By blogging, you are doing something public, and you can’t will that away. Unless you are a sociopath, the fact that you are engaging in a public endeavor has to raise some unique questions and issues. Like sitting at a meeting or table — do you repeat what someone else said just to “be heard”? That can be obnoxious or selfish sometimes. Or do you nod when someone else says what you think and be happy with that?
Wendy wrote:
No one has ever in my life accused me of that!
#22 by Wendy on August 11, 2009 - 6:38 pm
@ Jessica:
I just don’t think blogging should be hard, and I’ve seen too many bloggers dither about traffic, what they “should” be doing etc. etc. etc. Frankly, that’s too much like work and blogging should be fun! If you’re stressing about it, it’s not gonna be fun.
Because it’s about connecting with other people. Ultimately I started blogging because I like to ramble and I wanted to connect with other readers. Does everybody in Romance Bloglandia read and like my blog? Um….no. And that’s fine. But there are some people out there who do like my blog, do read it, and do comment – and I’ve met scads of lovely people through my blogging. I’m not going to “reach” everybody – and that’s fine. I’m not expecting to, nor do I have the desire. Ultimately I blog about what interests me and hopefully other people will like it too. If not? Oh well. Que sera sera…..
#23 by Robin on August 11, 2009 - 7:41 pm
I think there’s a difference between being interested in what other people think and having your sense of self-worth dependent on other people’s opinions.
When it comes to blogging, I definitely care what other people think, because I love to talk and argue about various issues. But I’m not so wrapped up in whether people think I’m a nice person or whatever. And god knows that blogging has gotten me very used to feeling as if I’m speaking into the void.
But for whatever reason I feel compelled to say certain things publicly, and if someone has a response, then a conversation can start. And if not, well, I said my piece. Only a few things will stop me from speaking, namely
1. I just don’t feel like it. This happens very frequently, which gives you an idea of just how the hell many opinions I really have.
2. I do not feel that I can make my meaning clear. This also happens a lot, but I usually work around to being able to say some semblance of what I want to in terms that someone will understand.
3. What I have to say relies on information that is confidential or should be or will insult or hurt someone’s feelings with no or negligible benefit.
Since my fundamental goal in life seems to be to understand whatever puzzle I happen to be working on at any given moment, I often write out what I think because it helps me think. I like the interaction and the feedback of a public forum for some ideas, because it’s helpful, entertaining, informative, interesting, etc. And because I just don’t have the time to visit all blogs and because some I’m just not a regular visitor of, I like it when several venues host a discussion, because I think of the online community as a bunch of sometimes overlapping communities, necessitating multiple conversation outlets.
#24 by Wendy on August 11, 2009 - 8:29 pm
@ Robin:
OMG – yes. What Robin said. Especially the first sentence.
I would add to her list:
4. I can’t contribute anything other than “me too!” This happens a lot. When the blogger or some commenter already makes my point for me. If there’s nothing else I feel like I can “add” to the discussion, I just won’t weigh in at all.
#25 by Robin on August 11, 2009 - 9:42 pm
@ Wendy:
Oh, yes, that’s a great addition! And for me number 4 often dovetails with number 1, such that if I really wanted to, I might be able to eek out of my little brain something beyond “me, too,” but I am so often just not up to it.
#26 by azteclady on August 11, 2009 - 9:52 pm
I’d like to point out that sometimes it’s not so much the “me too!” but the “damn, I wish I had said that–or that I had said it just like that!” that is sooooo hard to resist.
*looking innocently at Wendy’s and Robin’s exchange above*
#27 by heidenkind on August 11, 2009 - 11:32 pm
So many comments. I can’t really contribute anything new (how appropos) except to say that it’s not always in what you say but how you say it. Even if your opinion of a book is the same as someone else’s, your review of it will still be unique because it’s written by you. So you should definitely write what you want to on your blog without worrying about being redundant.
#28 by Jessica on August 12, 2009 - 6:22 am
Wendy wrote:
Yes, I agree. And for me, this kind of reflection on blogging IS fun. I don’t stress over what to blog, but I am interested in thinking about it. There is a difference. There are stressful things in my life. Blogging is not one of them.
I think the tension between the self-interested or selfish aspects of blogging and the public/communal ones is interesting.
Robin wrote:
Of course. I hope I didn’t give the impression that my self-worth was at issue here.
all I’m saying is that when I choose to have an audience, I have to consider that audience in some way. That doesn’t mean letting your audience dictate everything you do.
For example, I waked my dog with a neighbor yesterday. She doesn’t blog and doesn’t read. If she asks me what I have been up to, I may mention both, but I won’t go on for 20 minutes about things she doesn’t care about. We are going to find some common ground –our kids, who are friends, for example.
That’s not lack of self-worth, it’s paying attention to the company I am keeping.
Wendy wrote:
Robin wrote:
I agree. These are great ways to put it.
Wendy wrote:
Isn’t this is an example of what I’m talking about? You’re not commenting in a debate because it;s about more than “your say”, it’s also about being part of a group of conversants. You are paying attention to the fact that you are not the only speaker and listener.
azteclady wrote:
I agree! I love blogging!
#29 by Jessica on August 12, 2009 - 8:44 am
Maili wrote:
Oh, yes, and I wanted to say something about this. There is, to take something dear to my heart, so much discussion of feminism and romance online, and so little in venues with any permanency — academic or otherwise. At this point, Beyond Heaving Bosoms offers the most sustained engagement between feminism and romance in print in like the last, I don’t know, 20 years!
#30 by Janine on August 12, 2009 - 11:42 am
Yes, but I think this is mainly due to the fact that my blog is a group blog and that it is primarily aimed at readers. If I had a personal blog, I might be tempted to post about writing-related topics a lot more often. But I don’t feel that Dear Author is the right venue for that.
Also, since I’m not published, I don’t feel that I can speak with authority about writing issues even though I have many opinions about them. It seems like a moot point to me now, but that may change in the future.
I’m probably the wrong person to ask this because almost all my DA posts are book reviews. I think I have maybe three opinion pieces there. I know that Jane would welcome more of them, but I always feel that I have more to say about the books I’ve read, and reviews are mainly what I read most other sites for, too.
I have a hard time thinking of something interesting enough to say when it’s not a book review, unless I’m in the comment section of someone else’s post.
#31 by Robin on August 12, 2009 - 12:37 pm
@ Jessica:
My first comment was not aimed at you as much as your question, because I think that a lot of times when people say they don’t care what other people think, they mean it in the self-esteem way, not in the ‘I’m not interested in other opinions’ way.
I know that many argue that blogging is a self-indulgent or narcissistic activity. But coming, as you do, from the academic culture, don’t you think blogging is quite close to the public intellectual forum so often envisioned as the ideal educational/research space?
It’s strange to me, in fact, the more academics aren’t attracted to blogging, because it can be so conducive to the timely exchange of big and small ideas. But maybe it goes back to the fear people have about sharing their ideas at conferences and the like. Too bad, tho, because IMO blogging has so much potential to spur expansive civic re-engagement.
#32 by Laura Vivanco on August 12, 2009 - 12:57 pm
There is, to take something dear to my heart, so much discussion of feminism and romance online, and so little in venues with any permanency — academic or otherwise. At this point, Beyond Heaving Bosoms offers the most sustained engagement between feminism and romance in print in like the last, I don’t know, 20 years!
I’m not sure about that. The following are a few of the more recent works which engage with both feminism and the romance genre:
Dixon, jay, 1999. The Romance Fiction of Mills & Boon 1909-1990s (London: UCL Press).
Flesch, Juliet, 2004. From Australia With Love: A History of Modern Australian Popular Romance Novels.
Larcombe, Wendy, 2005. Compelling Engagements : Feminism, Rape Law and Romance Fiction. (Annandale, N.S.W. : Federation Press).
Regis, Pamela, 2003. A Natural History of the Romance Novel (Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press).
Various articles in Paradoxa 1-2 (1997).
And although not so focused just on romance novels, there’s also Romance Revisited, 1995 ed. Jackie Stacey and Lynne Pearce (New York: New York UP).
#33 by CEmerson on August 12, 2009 - 12:59 pm
Though my own blog is at present strictly a tree-falling-in-the-forest affair, I’ve asked myself this question too. I do think it’s a valid one.
I will say, Jessica, that not once have I read a post of yours and thought, “Oh, I already read about this topic on Dear Author, so never mind.”
Maybe that’s what distinguishes a really good blogger? That even if her opinions/insights largely agree with what’s been posted elsewhere, she can frame it in a way that’s fresh, or isolate a few aspects that haven’t already been covered, or just, through her voice, make it a pleasure to read?
#34 by Heloise on August 12, 2009 - 2:00 pm
My own blogging as an endeavor has revealed to me some interesting things. I started the blog because I read an atrocious, I mean really unbelievably bad romance novel. I genuinely didn’t want anyone else to have to read it, except for laughs if they so chose, so I went online to figure out this blogging thing. I also had a blast writing an (I hope) amusing take on the book and to some extent, the genre. I also wanted a written record of the books I had read because I have a terrible habit of buying the same book multiple times.
After a few months, I had the revelation that the blog was an object I had created, a craft project that was endless and completable. I had an entirely new-to-me feeling of accomplishment. I don’t knit, or cook or make things in anyway, aside from a bit of coloring here or there…..
I would be lying through my teeth if I said I don’t care if people like it. I do. I’d like to think my entire self esteem isn’t dependent on whether people read it and like it, but I would like it to be read. So yes, the reader is a presence for me as I’m writing. I’m aware of the potential that the author might read my review. I’m hoping that readers will gain some knowledge of books they might like to read, or avoid. And I’m hoping that if someone has read the book, they will give me their opinion, because I do enjoy it when bloglandia actually becomes Robin’s “public intellectual forum .” But I’m also hoping at the least to amuse, and I have a hard time imagining trying to do that without a recipient on the other end. (Oh, don’t get me wrong, I amuse myself endlessly as well!)
#35 by Jessica on August 12, 2009 - 2:02 pm
Laura,
You’re right. I should have hedged my claim. I would like to see more engagement from US feminist scholars, in more high profile venues, a theme I know I have sounded more than once. and I know you and the TMT folks have gone a long way to getting this going.
The books you cite (thank you) may be excellent, but from my point of view, except for the Regis, they are difficult to find.
The Dixon, published by UCL, is in 176 libraries.
The Flesch was published by Fremantle Arts Centre Press and is in 97 libraries.
Larcombe is in 118 libraries, from a small independent Australian press.
(Interesting to compare: BHB, published a few months ago, is already in 163 libraries).
Of the books you listed, only the Regis has wide distribution — 637 libraries. It’s also the only one I could get my hands using my state library system.
As for the content of the Regis, I recently read it, And she makes the same bizarre claim Stephanie Laurens made in the essay you recently cited, namely, “Critical rejection of the romance novel emanated from the wave of feminism that arose in the 1960s.” When did feminists have the power to decree which genres of fiction were worthy of critical attention?
At any rate, and I don’t think she really engages with the feminist objections she considers. I don’t know whether the others are better on that score — I’ll have to ILL them!
Robin wrote:
I agree with you. I certainly have found it energizing, and to provide resources for both teaching and research.
Janine wrote:
? My initial reaction is to think this can’t be true, although I respect the fact that you feel it is.
CEmerson wrote:
Oh, you have come to the right place! I can say with authority that it DOES make a sound.
#36 by Heloise on August 12, 2009 - 2:07 pm
My edit time elapses! Damn, this is my brilliant sum up!
So while there are other purposes to my blog (seriously, I need to keep track of what books I’ve already read), and I gain a sense of accomplishment I never expected from just writing it; there is a reason I put it on a public forum.
#37 by Robin on August 12, 2009 - 2:08 pm
@ Jessica:
As someone who has been working on popular culture/literature for more than a decade now, I can definitely say with pseudo-authority that Regis’s assertion is, in my pseudo-informed opinion, not correct.
#38 by Laura Vivanco on August 12, 2009 - 2:57 pm
I’ve got all of them except the Larcombe, so I can’t comment on that one. I wouldn’t say that the others were “excellent” in their treatment of romance and feminism, but then, I wouldn’t say that about BHBs either. Jay Dixon’s book is rather more interested in looking at the development of Mills and Boon romances, and Flesch is primarily interested in giving a bit of the history of the romance genre in Australia and trying to work out whether there’s something distinctively Australian about romances written by Australian authors, so (in common with Regis) neither of these books include very detailed and lengthy amounts of information about the relationship between feminism and romance. The Paradoxa articles obviously aren’t a book-length exploration of feminism and romance.
Another book which I think might be useful, but which I haven’t read yet, is Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture by Joanne Hollows. Excerpts are available via Google Books, and Chapter 4is about the romance genre.
#39 by Jessica on August 12, 2009 - 8:10 pm
The Hollows looks very good. Our library actually has it so I think I will pick it up tomorrow.
So I don’t come off as a real naysayer … You know what essay I think is really terrific? “Busting Textual Bodices: Gender, Reading, and the Popular Romance” by Carol Ricker-Wilson, The English Journal, Vol. 88, No. 3, Genderizing the Curriculum (Jan., 1999), pp. 57-
64, Published by: National Council of Teachers of English, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/821580 (it’s in the Romance wiki). I was just rereading it and thinking of assigning it with the Gaffney.
#40 by medumb on August 13, 2009 - 7:36 am
Just wanted to pop back with a thanks for the book titles for me to hunt down.
to go with the copy of BHB that just arrived the other day. PMSL
#41 by Jessica on August 13, 2009 - 9:28 am
medumb wrote:
Laura is an incredible fount of knowledge about what’s going on in romance scholarship. Have you checked out the romance wiki? It’s also a great resource.
http://www.romancewiki.com/Romance_Scholarship
#42 by Tumperkin on August 13, 2009 - 9:38 am
Jessica wrote:
Yes. It is interesting. And you’re right – I do think of the people who may read a post as I’m writing it, so it’s disingenuous to say ‘I only blog for myself’ (as I probably implied in my earlier comment).
I wouldn’t keep a private journal in the nature of my blog. The fact that it is public and open to be read and commented on by others is part of the attraction. You’re opening a conversation (hopefully) and engaging with others on questions that interest you. But it’s not all about debate and exchange of ideas. I think a lot of its about validation; the seeking out of like-minded people and the reaching of consensus is I think just as important to a lot of bloggers.
Um – I don’t think that really adds anything – I’ll ponder further…
#43 by KristieJ on August 13, 2009 - 9:48 pm
Me – I blog for myself. If I did it for others, I’m sure I wouldn’t blog about half the stuff I do and I know I’d stifle myself a lot more then I do. Of course I’m happy that other people enjoy reading my thoughts on books, toilet paper, underwear, playing poker and other things I’ve done over the years.
As for taking on a topic that others have done, everyone has a different point of view and I think yours is just as interesting as others – and probably more so in some cases
I think the most important thing of all though is to have fun – even if you are ranting over something.
#44 by medumb on August 15, 2009 - 12:53 am
Thanks Jessica!
Had seen romance wiki in passing, but haven’t made time to look at it more in depth.
Though I guess this means even less work is going to be done this week!
#45 by Jessica on August 15, 2009 - 10:45 am
KristieJ wrote:
Amen to this, Kristie. I find that as long as I don’t lose sight of this, everything else goes smoothly.
#46 by Rebecca Baumann on August 21, 2009 - 2:55 pm
Hi Jessica – love the topic – you’re a blogger blogging about the purpose of blogging, and then other bloggers added blog comments on why they blog. It’s a glorious blogfest. I’m only sorry that I’m late to the party. Can I keep using the word blog? It’s so much fun.
My reasons for blogging:
1) I haven’t had an in-person ‘girlfriend’ since the third grade (I look at every redheaded woman I meet trying to locate my long lost bud Kristy). Seriously, I meet very cool readers, authors, and bloggers by blogging.
2) I’m an ego-centric hound dog who is fawning shamelessly for attention each and every day. I’m practically jumping up and down, peeing on myself with excitement, and saying “Look at me! Look at me!”
3) Everything that could ever be said about books has already been said. But people want to read fresh old stuff, not old old stuff. I’m like the emperor penguin who toddles back to my chick and regurgitates partially digested seafood into their gullet. When I put it that way, how can you help but say, YUM?
Sorry, I’m obviously an irreverent jackass at times, but I did enjoy your post and all the ensuing comments. I hope you won’t ban me from now on. I’d like to come back for tea and crumpets.
#47 by Alice Audrey on November 2, 2009 - 2:43 pm
Personally, I blog for my readers. But I see no reason why you can’t toss in your two cents if you are so moved.
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