Lots of IASPR news and new publications

In recent news:

.@dramyburge and I are in the very early stages of some work on the history and development of British romance fiction, and as you can see, we have a lot of very interesting ground to cover... https://t.co/X7IPjCKNSZ

— Jodi McAlister (@JodiMcA) July 13, 2022

and

The International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR) is seeking a Secretary to join our Executive Committee. This is a volunteer position, with a two-year term. 

More details here on what's involved in being Secretary.

They're also looking for a Film and Television Editor, Journal for Popular Romance Studies. Details about that can be found here (and the deadline's 30 July).

If you're not already signed up to IASPR's quarterly newletter, I'd encourage you to do that here (where you can also see the newsletter's archive). This quarter's newsletter includes a link to PCA Romance Area 2022 Abstract Booklet which I don't think was available online during the event and an interview with the new IASPR President (congratulations Jayashree and I look forward to seeing your ideas come to fruition!)

And on to the new entries in the Romance Scholarship Database:

Ayala Rodríguez, Ida María and Iraida Thalia Almaral Cereijo (2022). "Deconstructionism of the heroine in the novel The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer." Sincronia 82:536-564.

Balteskard, Susanna (2022). Feminism in Romance: How the romance genre has(n't) changed since the 1950s. Bachelor thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. [Abstract only.]

Buttrick, Nicholas Westgate, Erin C. Oishi, Shigehiro (2022). "Reading Literary Fiction Is Associated With a More Complex Worldview." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Online First. [A preprint version is available for free online - see the links in the romance scholarship database entry I've linked to]

Farooqui, Javaria (2022). "On Loving Popular Fiction in Pakistan." The Aleph Review.

Namysłowska, Karolina (2022). Romance novels in translation: Focus on defining features of selected texts translated from English into Polish. Masters thesis, Jagiellonian University. [Abstract]

Also, since I was sent a free copy of New Frontiers in Popular Romance: Essays on the Genre in the 21st Century, I've been able to update the entries in the Romance Scholarship Database about it to include quotes that give a flavour of each essay.

PCA/ACA roundup

As far as I know, the PCA/ACA conference, which ends on 16 April, no longer releases abstracts online. However, there were some tweets of them, and Jodi McAlister made a TikTok version of her paper. I'll embed the links below.

The first panel for #pcaromance starts in 2 mins! @pcaaca #pcaaca22 pic.twitter.com/lSIqGrvrMN

— Profromance, Ph.D. (@prof_romance) April 13, 2022

#pcaromance panel II starts at 12:30 EST #pcaaca22 pic.twitter.com/u3ahl0twIO

— Profromance, Ph.D. (@prof_romance) April 13, 2022

#pcaromance Panel III starts at 2 p.m. EST (and I’m discussing @SandraEKitt ’s 1984 All Good Things and Gullah culture in the Sea Islands) pic.twitter.com/jLbfGpXYOY

— Profromance, Ph.D. (@prof_romance) April 13, 2022

#pcaromance Panel IV starts 3:30 p.m. EST #pcaaca22 pic.twitter.com/GOiRx4L8oY

— Profromance, Ph.D. (@prof_romance) April 13, 2022

#pcaromance Panel V starts at 5:00 p.m. EST #pcaaca22 pic.twitter.com/Y9rBw7a3Kv

— Profromance, Ph.D. (@prof_romance) April 13, 2022

#pcaromance Panel VI starts at 11:00 a.m. EST #pcaaca22 pic.twitter.com/Qu1qzSINGS

— Profromance, Ph.D. (@prof_romance) April 14, 2022

#pcaromance Panel VII starts at 12:30 p.m. EST #pcaaca22 pic.twitter.com/7jMg1LNPAR

— Profromance, Ph.D. (@prof_romance) April 14, 2022

And here's the link to Jodi McAlister's TikTok of her paper for that panel.

#pcaromance Panel VIII starts at 2:00 p.m. EST #pcaaca22 pic.twitter.com/Ru0Ujmp8bR

— Profromance, Ph.D. (@prof_romance) April 14, 2022

#pcaromance Panel IX starts at 3:30 p.m. EST #pcaaca22 pic.twitter.com/ZvntUNnaUV

— Profromance, Ph.D. (@prof_romance) April 14, 2022

Call for Papers: PCA Conference 2022

Here's part of the call for papers:

The theme of the PCA Romance area in 2022 is fantasy and escape in romance and romantic media. We encourage you to define this theme broadly, and to think not just about specific texts but through them, to the broader discussions in which they are implicated. How can we most productively think through this tangled web of fantasy and escape and their relationship to the “real”?

Questions on this theme you might wish to explore include:

• The fantasy of romance: what is it?
• Romance in fantasy: how does the romance plot play out in fantastical worlds?
• The right to fantasy: whose fantasies get represented in romantic media? Do we all dream about the same happy endings? How do race, religion, sexuality, and other factors affect romantic fantasies?
• Escapism: where are we escaping from? where are we escaping to?
• Escaping lockdown: how did we consume romantic media during the pandemic?
• Creating new fantasies: what kinds of romance narratives were created during the pandemic?
• Runaway heroines and heroes: how does escape work as a theme in romance? Does it play a different role depending on subgenre (such as captivity narratives, gothics, and/or romantic suspense)?
• Seeking the fantasy in the real world: how do people go about looking for love?
• Romance on reality TV:  what even counts as real?
• Fan(fiction)tasizing: how are new possibilities for the romance imagined in fan culture?
• Escaping unproductive discussions: how can we work over, under, around or through endless discussions about the merits of romance and popular culture?

If none of these suggestions appeal, or you simply want to pursue your own intellectual passion, you are very welcome to do so.

As far as I can see, the deadline for submissions is 15 November 2021. See the full details here.