I've been reading romances for years (decades, really) and I was a collegiate English major, who read Shakespeare, Alexander Pope, and Thomas Hardy -- a lot of dead white men. Even in college as I slogged through huge reading lists, I was always stealing time for romance novels. When I spent a year in England studying history and the great British writers, I was reading romance (discovering Jilly Cooper -- who more U.S. readers should know about). But while I always felt naughty reading the "low-brow" books. And I was/am not alone.
Megan Mulry feels the same way. She lists her descent into romance on her blog. She also points out that there is now academic study of the romance through the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance.
Near my home McDaniel College with the help of romance goddess Nora Roberts is holding a conference on romances as well as supporting a minor in the subject.
I enjoyed Mulry's points, especially her comments: "Many smart women are trapped in a dialectical prison: intelligence must be grim or at the very least ironic. Anyone who is joyful must be living in a state of ignorance. Brainwashed. Touched."
Bring on the unicorns and rainbows. I'm proud to be a romance writer and reader.
