Five random somethings.
1. Perhaps to counter the idea that reading romance is the cognitive equivalent of sleep, online readers often talk about how much they learn from reading romance. I have often wondered how this learning process is works, when there is so much in romance that is patently untrue — historically inaccurate, sexually and anatomically inaccurate, etc. To take the sex example, why don’t we ever see anybody online saying, “I started reading romance from a young age and I thought all penises were monstrously erect in their normal state, all women could orgasm via nipples rubbing against silk, and all orgasms are simultaneously multiple.”
I am committed to the idea that we learn from fiction, but I’d like to learn more about this process. What does the reader bring to the process of learning from fiction? If we leave it at “I learned a lot from romance”, we run the risk of replacing the hypodermic needle filled with Brain Rotting Addicting Worthless Junk with one filled with Super Terrific Relationship Facts and Sex Tips and History and Values. But the hypodermic needle model of culture, whatever the needle is filled with, is problematic from the point of view of reader’s agency.
I’m sure no serious cultural theorist ever really believed in the hypodermic needle model, and no romance reader who spends more than five seconds thinking about it does, either. I’m just wondering what a better model is.
2. Remember how I wrote Monday that I saw Goodreads as for both readers and authors (not how it *should* be, just how I *observe it to be*.)? Check out these tweets from book marketing professionals during Thursday’s #bookmarket chat on on Twitter (whole transcript here):
@Ruthseeley I think you all know I’m very bullish on Goodreads. Four million readers RIGHT THERE. I think it’s really under-utilized. #bookmarket -2:35 PM Mar 3rd, 2011
@JaneFriedman I agree with @Ruthseeley that Goodreads is underutilized for author marketing/promotion. It’s a phenomenal community.
@candlemarkgleam @dwainsmith Find Goodreads to be VERY useful SM tool for finding books, reviews. Seems to have good response to ads, too #bookmarket -2:30 PM Mar 3rd, 2011
I wonder if folks will be looking back at the golden age of Goodreads in another year?
3. Romance Trading Cards. What will you do with yours?
4. Corporate romance
Today, while thinking about ways to lengthen the time between DNR orders and a patient actually coding, grading student bibliographies on narrative medicine, packing for Florida, and taking a tour of our local women’s health center (Going to do some volunteer stuff for them. Don’t we all have to do something right now to protect women’s reproductive rights and well being?), I’ve been reading snatches of the very interesting Escaping the ‘Time Bind: Negotiations of Love and Work in Jayne Ann Krentz’s ‘Corporate Romances’”, The Journal of American Culture, Volume 33, Issue 2, pages 92–106, June 2010, by Erin S. Young:
Just to share a quote or three:
In Fantasy and Reconciliation: Contemporary Formulas of Women’s Romance Fiction (1984), romance critic Kay Mussell describes Kathleen Woodiwiss’ The Flame and the Flower (1972) as ‘‘a story of sexual and exotic adventure or domestic melodrama in a heightened and exciting setting’’ (38). The uncontested favorite of Janice Radway’s Smithton readers,1 this novel marked the development of the romance formula from ‘‘the purest and simplest romantic type’’ to the more plot-detailed and erotically explicit ‘‘bodice-ripper,’’ epitomizing the archetypeof romance fiction for contemporary nonreaders of romance.
Perhaps I should have just said “nonreaders” in Wednesday’s post?
As early as 1982, romance author Jayne Ann Krentz introduced new ‘‘corporate’’ elements into the conventional romance. Novels like A Corporate Affair and A Passionate Business not only contained working protagonists, but also centralized the work environment as the setting in which romance blossoms and gains form. Krentz developed a recognizable formula that has been utilized by other contemporary romance novelists. By now, the corporate romance genre has matured with a discernible set of key characteristics apparent in (1) the characterizations of the protagonists, (2) the type (and cause) of the conflict between hero and heroine, and (3) the narrative resolution of the conflict.
Corporate romances, in their focus on flexible capitalism as the primary social condition that requires negotiating, appear to be inoculating against the major evils of a capitalist society. A different resolution is offered to eradicate the effects of the ‘‘time bind’’ on professional and personal life. The ‘‘couple facade’’ enacted in all of these novels becomes real; heroines who, for reasons related to work, must spend the majority of their time with their business partners (instead of their families) are absolved of guilt, because these business partners are transformed into family members (i.e. husbands).
Did you ever think of “corporate romances” as a distinct subgenre? Do you have a favorite corporate romance? I have a very clear fave: Julie James’s Practice Makes Perfect.
5. Can you tell from how I phrased the last item that I am stressed out? Thus… Hiatus: heading to Disney tomorrow. I know from experience that this is not the kind of vacation that leaves time for blogging or *cringe* even reading. But it will be warm and fun.
I’ll be back the week of the 14th. With a tan. And a few extra pounds from eating too many Mickey Bars. 
Related posts:
Have fun on your trip!
And thanks for the link to the article on Krentz. That can be my elliptical reading for today.
@Victoria Janssen: oh dear, you need a subscription! I can send it to you if you want.
Have a wonderful vacation! I love the idea of romance trading cards….I’m going to get some for my 5 Klaus brothers. Also, I have been encouraging authors in the NECRWA to join Goodreads for a long time. It’s such a great resource for readers, bloggers and authors. Especially since other high traffic sites, like the Amazon romance message boards for example, are not author-friendly. In particular, with authors attempting to self-promote. At Goodreads, authors are welcome as long as they don’t over-do the promo stuff.
Enjoy a Mickey bar for me! :^)
As for incorrect sexual information in romances–reading historicals, at least, left me with a lot of misinformation about hymens. I knew a lot of the other stuff was incorrect from other reading, but there aren’t that many books/articles that go into detail about hymens. It didn’t help that I never did find mine (apparently there’s a really broad range of what is normal, there, including “not detectable”). It caused me years of mild bafflement. It’s not something I typically bring up in conversation because it’s kind of embarrassing, y’know? So of course I post it on your blog.
@Penelope: I agree that author promotion is a delicate matter.
@Joy: Of course! The Hymen! And your secret is safe with me … and about a thousand other people.
Have a lovely time – I hope the queues are not too long!
@Joy: I always assumed the invention of the tampon pretty much did away with hymens for girls who’ve reached puberty.
Have fun, Jessica. I’ll miss you.
Ugh, ugh, ugh. Goodreads is already overrun by desperate authors and their sycophants, to the point where any forum with any level of activity is a waste of time for me as a reader. I am sick to death of authors promoting their books, rating and reviewing their books, pimping book competitions and quizzes, and adding me as as a friend as if that’s going to trick me into reading their sodding books.
Goodreads is for readers. Authors should be there to curate their own book entries and profile, and to answer reader questions when directly asked. Other than that, they can stick to their blogs on GR, or the dedicated ‘Meet the Asshole’ groups.
Ugh.
ZOMG – a Mickey Bar! I’d be jealous if I didn’t think I was going to get my opportunity for one in about…oh 30 days or so when the SL parental units are heading west for a visit
Enjoy the vacay!
Victoria, there’s an unofficial, unpaginated version of the essay here.
Have FUN, woman! And don’t forget the extra socks, towels if you visit any of the water parks (or play in the fountains at EPCOT), sunblock and patience.
Have agood break.
@ Joy and @ Miranda
Oh yes! My Mother actually wasn’t sure I could use tampons as a virgin. She was delighted for me that I could
I must agree with you on the Corporate Romance – Julie James’s Practice Makes Perfect was my first read for this year and is a clear favourite, too. Sexy and Desire HM&B lines have corporate settings – I’d highlight Anne McAllister as an author who writes well in this sub-sub-genre. I wouldn’t call corporate romance a sub-genre as it really is a subset of contemporary romance.
Enjoy your hiatus and Mickey Bars!
@Jessica it’s okay, I have access!
Oh, I was just sitting here wondering how your vacay was going, and boo hoo, it’s all over! Or, maybe, whew! It’s all over. Because sometimes it’s nice when you come home. I hope you all had a wonderful time, and that pictures will appear here.
Your item #1 is interesting. Having come to romance late, I often think my teen and young adult years would have been greatly improved if I’d read romance, but it’s not about knowledge. But, it is a kind of experience I would have gotten, and that would be a type of learning…a kind of emotional learning, a pleasure interaction. Maybe that doesn’t even count.
Please allow me also to greatly fawn over you for that snuggies caption down there, which I TOTALLY missed when I first read the post. LOL.