tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30203557.post3637602363935616957..comments2024-03-26T01:10:13.720+00:00Comments on Teach Me Tonight: Novelty or New Packaging?E. M. Selingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426524354823232002noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30203557.post-1553272988414757772011-03-20T00:45:10.209+00:002011-03-20T00:45:10.209+00:00"I have seen other comments about paranormals..."<i>I have seen other comments about paranormals replacing alpha-hero-centric romances, but yours makes the most sense to me. Some readers really want their alphas, and since supernatural beings aren't subject to the same PC criticisms, they can have 70s (or earlier) style behavior in 21st century books.</i>"<br /><br />I've just been re-reading Heather Schell's “The Big Bad Wolf: Masculinity and Genetics in Popular Culture.” <i>Literature and Medicine</i> 26.1 (2007): 109-125 and she made the point earlier than I did. In fact, it may well be that I had picked up the idea from her:<br /><br /><i>The implications of an alpha male hero are best developed in the supernatural romance, a relatively new and flourishing subgenre of mass-market romance. The heroes of these books have an excuse for their atavistic impulses. Immortal protagonists [...] formed their sense of appropriate gender roles eons ago; similarly, though werewolves may not live forever, their close kinship with wolves has imbued them with instinctive dominance behavior. Still, despite their supernatural abilities, these monster heroes are quite similar to the ideal human alpha male.</i> (119-20)Laura Vivancohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00906661869372622821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30203557.post-20239159991728649912011-03-16T20:03:39.595+00:002011-03-16T20:03:39.595+00:00My husband the sociologist reminded me, when I was...<i>My husband the sociologist reminded me, when I was writing the post, that westerns and mysteries were doing paperback originals for decades, as were other genres (which I think you have written about before).</i><br /><br />I'm not sure if this was what you're thinking of, but Virginia posted three very detailed comments once about romantic fiction bestsellers (and other notable works of romantic fiction) from the very late 1800s right up to the 1970s. The first comment is <a href="http://teachmetonight.blogspot.com/2008/02/eric-and-reading-groups.html#c4338984414127199068" rel="nofollow">here</a>. She does mention paperback formats occasionally, in passing.<br /><br />I had a quick look for more information about paperback originals and came across <a href="http://www.bookscans.com/" rel="nofollow">Bookscans</a>, a website "Graphically illustrating the evolution of Vintage American Paperbacks - 1939 through 1959 (and beyond)" and they have some <a href="http://www.bookscans.com/articles.htm" rel="nofollow">essays about the development of paperback publishing</a>. At another site I found <a href="http://www.allanguthrie.co.uk/pages/noir_zine/articles/paperback_originals.php" rel="nofollow">some more details</a>:<br /><br /><i>The new history of paperback original publishing began quietly in late 1949 with a brief article in the December 3 issue of Publisher's Weekly, stating that "Beginning in February [1950], original fiction including westerns and mysteries will be published at 25 cents in a pocket-size format by Fawcett Publications." The series, to be called Gold Medal Books, had actually already begun with two "experimental titles," both anthologies of material culled from two Fawcett magazines.</i><br /><br />I know Pamela Regis is working on a history of the US romance novel but I don't know if she'll put that in the context of the history of US publishing.Laura Vivancohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00906661869372622821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30203557.post-88770186743347478882011-03-16T10:59:44.479+00:002011-03-16T10:59:44.479+00:00Hi Laura, I've been traveling and just caught ...Hi Laura, I've been traveling and just caught up with this post. The part of Radway you quoted really struck me when I read it (as you probably figured out). It's part of her larger argument that the changes in the 1970s were foreshadowed by the 1960s. My husband the sociologist reminded me, when I was writing the post, that westerns and mysteries were doing paperback originals for decades, as were other genres (which I think you have written about before). <br /><br />I mentioned John Sutherland's book Bestsellers, and I really want to write more about that book and a book he quotes, regarding the role of bestsellers as cultural mirrors and the changing cycle of book sales as a result of the bestseller phenomenon respectively. These studies are focusing on the 1960s and 1970s but we see the same patterns today, such as the importance of first- and second-week sales and the dangers to midlist authors of the model. <br /><br />I have seen other comments about paranormals replacing alpha-hero-centric romances, but yours makes the most sense to me. Some readers really want their alphas, and since supernatural beings aren't subject to the same PC criticisms, they can have 70s (or earlier) style behavior in 21st century books. I know that's not all you're saying, but it explains in part the attraction of paranormals, especially the ones in which the worldbuilding is, shall we say, not great.Sunitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11241584136397101851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30203557.post-61133311585699653892011-03-11T22:31:37.928+00:002011-03-11T22:31:37.928+00:00I'm glad you found the post interesting.
I fe...I'm glad you found the post interesting.<br /><br />I feel I should add that although I was arguing here that paranormal settings can be used to create an enhanced version of the status quo, I do think it can also be a subgenre which, like speculative fiction, offers authors the freedom to imagine alternative social structures. The paranormal elements can also function almost as a metaphor or symbol through which to raise questions about contemporary society. Kathleen Miller, for example, <a href="http://jprstudies.org/2010/08/a-little-extra-bite-disability-and-romance-in-tanya-huff-and-charlaine-harris-vampire-fiction-by-kathleen-miller/" rel="nofollow">argues that</a> <br /><br /><i>In Charlaine Harris’s </i>Dead Until Dark<i>, Sookie Stackhouse lives in a society in which vampires have “come out of the coffins.” In other words, they have become legal citizens, as Japanese scientists have developed a synthetic blood that makes it possible for vampires to live in the open without the need to hunt humans for sustenance. Set in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, the narrative links human prejudice against vampires to the history of slavery, racism, sexism, and homophobia in the American South.</i><br /><br />[Admittedly that novel isn't exactly a romance, but the quote was a good example of what I meant by paranormal elements functioning as a metaphor/symbol.]Laura Vivancohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00906661869372622821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30203557.post-44205709300829983652011-03-11T21:45:56.404+00:002011-03-11T21:45:56.404+00:00Really interesting comment on the appeal of parano...Really interesting comment on the appeal of paranormal romance. I've often thought of them as parallel to historical romance in that they transpose the romance paradigm to another world enabling the suspense of disbelief - but the comments you make here make so much sense. Very thought provoking (as always). Thanks!Meg McNultyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04985840066083718618noreply@blogger.com