DETAILS

Title: Historical romance

Categories:

Romance

Location: Denise Lynn, Falcon's Desire; Harlequin Historical Medieval (2003) Judith Stacy, The Dreammaker; Harlequin Historical (1999) Bronwyn Williams, Longshadow's Woman; Harlequin Historical Western (2001) Elizabeth Lane, Navaj

Pagination: 0

Illustrations: - historical setting, with particular detail paid to manners and dress - love story is foregrounded - language markers: deliberate archaisms, affected mannerisms, use of titles

Document Type: Graffiti

Notes:

Historical romance amplifies the appeal of romance by situating the love story against the backdrop of another time. The love story may serve as a connection to draw the reader into the period and explore authentic historical detail and conflcit. However, the history may serve as simple props to add excitement to a typical romance plot, in which case rigorous accuracy is not a priority. Historical romance can be found for any period, but certain times and places lend themselves more easily to romantic plots. Victorian and medieval settings are perennial favorites, and frontier settings of the West are currently very popular. One period in particular, the Regency era, is so well-represented that I've included it as a distinct subgenre. See also: Historical fiction (Ed. Note: All the images in this genre were scanned from books held in the CRC Humanities Computing Studio collection.)