International Romance: A Summary

Laura Vivanco

Sarah's just got back from the IASPR conference and has made a few observations about it over at Romancing the Blog. I'll copy a few of them over here, too, though, because I think they're worth sharing:

The conference, with presenters from India, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, Italy, China, the US, and of course, Australia, taught us that Popular Romance Studies is and should be a truly international pursuit. In learning the universality of popular romance, though, it teaches us to be very specific about the historical, social, and national culture of the text under consideration. (For example, the book I will be writing for the next few years is about the power, appeal, and history of the modern American romance hero, not the romance hero in general.)

The conference also taught us to be aware of cultural definitions of romance. The American middle-class definition requires a happy ending, but other cultural versions of romance might not. It is important to be conscious of our own historical, social, and national cultures, as well as aware of those in the texts we study.

The map of the world's time zones came from Wikimedia Commons.

IASPR Brisbane Tweets

The 2009 IASPR conference has now begun, and you can read the tweets via Twitter. The hashtag is #romcon. Book Thingo is archiving them for posterity:

IASPR 2009 Conference Day 1 Morning
IASPR 2009 Conference Day 1 Afternoon
IASPR 2009 Conference Day 2 Morning



ABC News Queensland has a video report about the conference. That's due to expire in November, but Associated Press has a video report on the conference which includes the same quotes from Glen Thomas, Toni Johnson-Woods, Eric Selinger and Sarah Frantz.


The bird is a green catbird, and the photo came from Wikimedia Commons.

Romance in Brisbane

Laura Vivanco

The first IASPR conference begins tomorrow, in Brisbane, and the schedule's available from the IASPR website. One of the events on the schedule is a special session on the Flesch collection of Australian Romance Fiction in the Fryer Library. Elsewhere on the University of Queensland's website I discovered a page titled "Collections Seeking a Researcher! @ Fryer" which "promotes research on topics suggested by collection strengths in UQ and Brisbane libraries and museums." Skimming through it, I was delighted to see that the Flesch collection was on the list:

Our Fryer Library in the UQ Library has recently acquired a collection of 1500 popular Australian romance novels published between 1950 and 2005. Many were published by Mills and Boon. The collection also includes a small number of books by English and North American authors with Australian settings or Australian heroes/heroines. A list of all items in the collection can be obtained by searching on the title “Australian Romance Fiction Collection.”

A list of possible topics and supervisors is also provided.

I wonder how long it will be before we can add a thesis inspired by the Flesch collection to the Romance Wiki's list of completed theses and dissertations? Perhaps it'll be joined by dissertations which make use of other romance collections at academic libraries?

Map courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Brisbane Conference: Registration Now Open

Laura Vivanco

As is apparent from the news in my last post, there's a lot going on at IASPR. But before we get to 2010, there's the conference planned for Brisbane (13-14 August):

Generously sponsored by the Romance Writers of America, Samhain Publishing, Depaul University, the University of Queensland, and Queensland University of Technology, the First Annual Conference on Popular Romance studies brings together scholars from all over the world, discussing many different aspects of popular romance.

Eminent Australian scholars Juliet Flesch and Lisa Fletcher headline the event. Presenters come from all corners of the globe, including the US, South Korea, Indonesia, India, New Zealand, Italy, and of course, Australia, filling six panels discussing everything from popular romance novels, Japanese manga, and a biography of Princess Diana, to Georgette Heyer, Bollywood movies, and Twilight.

The schedule of papers and events is now available, and the registration page is at IASPR's website.

"It Takes Two" Final Tally!

Hello, everyone! Eric here with a final tally for the "It Takes Two" fundraiser for IASPR.

As of last night, "It Takes Two" had brought in $352 in donations: far more than we needed to pull in the $250 matching fund from me. Add that to the total, and together we've raised $602 for IASPR--and that's not even counting the 20 new memberships that came in during the fundraiser: 16 year long memberships ($25 each) and 4 sustaining memberships (5 years for $100).

But wait! There's more! The past week has also brought us generous donations from DePaul University and Samhain Publishing specifically in support of the Brisbane conference. With their help, and yours, the conference can rest on a solid financial foundation while keeping the registration fees at a reasonable level: an important goal in these tough times.

Thank you all for your support, and remember: if you haven't joined yet, or still want to donate, the IASPR website doors are always open!

Final Call For Papers for Brisbance Romance Conference

POPULAR ROMANCE STUDIES
An International Conference
August 13-14, 2009
Brisbane, Australia

Sponsored by
The International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR)
University of Queensland
Queensland University of Technology
Romance Writers of America

For decades, scholars have studied popular romance, whether in romance novels, films, comics, or other media. They have studied its sexual politics and aesthetic structures, its audiences, its authors, and the industry that produces and distributes it world-wide. For the most part, however, they have done so in isolation, divided by boundaries of nation, genre, and academic discipline.

On August 13-14, 2009, the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology will host “Popular Romance Studies: an International Conference,” to be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Romance Writers of Australia. Scholars from Australia, the United States, and elsewhere will convene for this event, which will take place on the QUT campus (Thursday) and at the University of Queensland’s Fryer Library, home to a remarkable archival collection of Australian romance materials.

We are interested in papers on romantic love in the popular media (print, film, music, etc.), now or in the past, anywhere in the world. Topics addressed might include:

• Romance on the World Stage (texts in translation, romance manga, romantic films in Western, Indian, and Far Eastern traditions, non-Western writers, readers, texts, and publishers of romance fiction)
• National romance traditions and the impact of global publishing
• The romance industry (print, film, electronic, other)
• Romance between media: crossover texts and the relationships between romance fiction and romantic films, music, art, drama, etc.
• Romance high and low: texts that fall between “high” and “low” culture, or that complicate the distinctions between these critical categories
• Romance then and now: ancient, Renaissance, modern, postmodern love
• Romance in marketing; the Business of Love
• Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Romance, and same-sex love within predominantly heterosexual texts
• Romance communities: authors, readers, websites, blogs
• Theoretical models for, or approaches to, popular romance

We note that 2009 marks the 90th anniversary of E.M. Hull’s novel The Sheik (the film dates from two years later), the 70th anniversary of the film version of Gone With the Wind, and the 10th anniversary of Paperback Hero, the Australian film in which Hugh Jackman plays a truck driver turned romance novelist. Papers related to any of these subjects are particularly welcome.

Submit a one-page (150-250 word) proposal or abstract no later than May 30, 2009 to the conference organizers; email is preferred. Early proposals will receive an early response, in order to facilitate travel plans and travel funding requests. A small amount of travel funding for full-time U.S. faculty has been made available by the Romance Writers of America; please mention your interest in your proposal.

IASPR welcomes proposals from independent scholars, and from romance authors, editors, and publishers, as well as from those with academic affiliation.


Proposals and questions should be sent to:

Dr Toni Johnson-Woods,
English, Media Studies and Art History,
University of Queensland
St Lucia Q 4072 AUSTRALIA
T: (+ 61 7) 3381 1572
F: (+ 61 7) 3381 1565
E: t.johnsonwoods@uq.edu.au

Dr Glen Thomas
Creative Writing and Cultural Studies
Creative Industries Faculty
Queensland University of Technology
Victoria Park Road
Kelvin Grove, Q. 4059.
T: (+ 61 7) 3138 8284
F: (+61 7) 3138 8238
M: 0412 232 163
E: gj.thomas@qut.edu.au

Prof. Eric Murphy Selinger
Dept. of English
DePaul Univ.
802 West Belden Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614
773-325-4475
eselinge@depaul.edu

Breaking News! Brisbane Conference on Popular Romance, August 2009

Yes, folks, it's an official
Call for Papers:

POPULAR ROMANCE FICTION

An International Conference

August 13-14, 2009
Brisbane, Australia

Sponsored by

the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR)
Queensland University of Technology
Romance Writers of Australia

and others

For decades, romance fiction has been the world’s most popular literary genre. Scholars from Australia, Canada, the UK, the European Union, the United States, and India have studied popular romance—its readers, its authors, its publishers, as well as the novels themselves—but they have done so largely in isolation: an approach that is hardly adequate to this rapidly evolving, thoroughly global creative industry.

On August 13-14, 2009, Queensland University of Technology will host the first International Conference on Popular Romance Fiction, to be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Romance Writers of Australia. Featured speakers will include romance authors and academic scholars of the genre from Australia, the United States, and elsewhere.

The conference website will go live later this summer, with full logistical details and registration information; the URL will be announced on the RomanceScholar listserv and will be linked here on Teach Me Tonight. We can say for now that registration will be approximately $150 Australian (lunch included), and rooms at the conference hotel will run approximately $205 Australian / night (more with breakfast included). If funds to help with travel or expenses become available, we will announce them on the listserv and website.

We are interested in papers on all topics related to popular romance fiction as an international phenomenon: its authors, texts, publishers, and audiences, in the past or the present, anywhere in the world. Topics addressed might include:

• Romance on the World Stage (texts in translation, romance manga, colonial and neo-colonial romance, non-Western writers, readers, texts, and publishers)
• National romance traditions and the impact of global publishing on local authors, readers, publishers, and texts
• Studies of individual authors, genres, or texts
• Theoretical models for, or approaches to, the genre
• The market for and readership of romance fiction, now or in the past
• The romance publishing industry (in print and electronic)
• New directions in Category Romance (recent and forthcoming lines, changing demographics, new markets and shifting audience demographics, etc.)
• Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Romance, and same-sex love within predominantly heterosexual texts
• Genre-Bending and Genre-Crossing authors and texts (erotic romance, SF romance, chick-lit, crossover texts, etc.)
• Elements of the genre: heroes, heroines, plot structures, endings
• Romance communities: authors, readers, websites, blogs
  

We welcome proposals from independent scholars, and from romance authors, editors, and publishers, as well as from those with academic affiliation. Feel free to copy and circulate this Call for Papers to other websites, listservs, and professional organizations.

Submit a one-page (150-250 word) proposal or abstract no later than January 15, 2009 to the conference organizers; email is preferred. Early proposals are encouraged, especially from the US, UK, EU, and other locales outside Australia. The earlier we hear from you, the earlier we can respond, and the earlier travel arrangements can be made.

Proposals and questions should be sent to:

Eric Murphy Selinger
Dept. of English
DePaul University
802 West Belden Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614
773-325-4475
eselinge [at] depaul.edu

Dr Glen Thomas
Creative Writing and Cultural Studies
Creative Industries Faculty
Queensland University of Technology
Victoria Park Road
Kelvin Grove, Q. 4059.
T: (+ 61 7) 3138 8284
F: (+61 7) 3138 8238
M: 0412 232 163
E: gj.thomas [at] qut.edu.au