
Pursuing Happiness
Reading American Romance as Political Fiction
Laura Vivanco(Author)
Humanities-Ebooks (Publisher)
Published on 17. January 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
166 pages
978-1-84760-360-9 (ISBN)
Description
The dominance of popular romance in the US fiction market suggests that its trends and themes may reflect the politics of a significant proportion of the US population. Pursuing Happiness explores some of the choices, beliefs and assumptions which shape the politics of US romance novels. In particular, it focuses on what romances reveal about American attitudes towards work, the West, race, gender, community cohesion, ancestral "roots" and a historical connection (or lack of it) to the land.
"Pursuing Happiness explores the ways that popular American romance novels engage such matters as US gender roles, attitudes toward disability, the myth of the frontier, individualism and community, and racial violence and discrimination. A thoughtful study with a refreshingly topical focus." - Professor William Gleason, Princeton University.
"An insightful and entertaining look at the inherent, often invisible, politics that underlie America's most popular genre of fiction."- Isobel Carr, romance author
More details
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
251 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84760-360-9 (9781847603609)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Laura Vivanco is an independent scholar. Her previous books on romance are For Love and Money: The Literary Art of the Harlequin Mills & Boon Romance (2011) and Pursuing Happiness: Reading American Romance as Political Fiction (2016).