This summer I worked on the research project, ‘Mills & Boon: The Phenomenon of Mass Market Romance’ with Dr Deborah Longworth, from the department of English Literature. I have always been an enthusiastic romance reader, but before the summer I had never had the opportunity to study or research romance fiction academically. I was very keen to begin the project therefore, and to find out how academics discuss and value romance fiction. It strikes me that lots of other students might be new to this idea as well- researching or studying popular genre fiction that doesn’t already have an infinite back catalogue of academic research can initially seem quite daunting.
However, although the ideas and debates that arise might be miles away from discussing a Shakespeare play, the research is still fundamentally the same. When I initially began the research, I thought I would simply be supporting Dr Longworth with her project, however my experience over the summer was of a collaborative project in which I felt very engaged. I really enjoyed discussing with Dr Longworth the media’s response to popular romance fiction and the evaluation of women readers- whilst some academics view romance novels as feminist texts, far too often this is the minority view and the media does a good job of presenting female readers as infantile and generally having a low IQ. I found one Guardian article that even quoted a clinical psychologist blaming Mills & Boon novels for an increasing number of STIs…
Mills & Boon sell one book every three seconds in the UK alone and are read by millions of women all over the world. However, this type of genre fiction has a bad rep and the line ‘I write for Mills & Boon’ might, more often than not, be met with a look of pity and a non-verbal pat on the back. In business terms at least, if you’re a writer, romance fiction is probably your most likely chance of success. It seems strange therefore that the relevance of romance fiction is largely ignored by academics, especially when it is of such importance to contemporary readers.
Dr Longworth and I visited the Mills & Boon archive at the University of Reading where we read through and collated Violet Winspear’s letters to Alan Boon. Violet wrote Blue Jasmine (1969), a reworking of E. M. Hull’s The Sheik (1919), and many other very successful novels for Mills & Boon, and her letters are remarkable for their personality but also for their business agendas. Violet understood that romance fiction is an industry and she housed herself and her mother by her pen. At one point, she even sends Alan a questionnaire asking him if her work is up to standard, and whilst the question ‘Are bedroom doors to be left ajar?’ emphasises its ironic tone, the document also expresses her eagerness to hear from Alan what readers are wanting and expecting. She wants, essentially, to remain a bestseller and is writing for her readers and not herself. However, whilst Violet is business focused, it is important to remember that Mills & Boon is not just a brand. When reading Violet’s letters, you start to get to know the woman behind them, and Violet had strong opinions about romance and her writing: ‘I want to be individual and I refuse to be cast-typed. I want to say things in a dramatic way, not in a dull way. I want to arouse emotion not send the reader off to sleep’.
And whilst I disagree with the ‘formulaic’ term that gets bandied about whenever romance fiction, or a Mills & Boon book in particular is mentioned, I did learn of one key difference between what we might term ‘literary’ fiction and romance fiction. That is of course, the importance of the reader in relation to what actually happens in the novel and what gets published. Romance fiction readers read this genre fiction because it is just that- they know what to expect from the genre and want to enjoy its escapism. This idea of escapism however is seemingly two sided. I interviewed Eleanor Harkstead, an author of M/M fiction and she mentioned the importance of the ebook for romance fiction, as it affords a type of privacy that many romance readers value. This fiction is escapism then, but also carries with it a stigma- something that a kindle might allow you to escape from.
I have really enjoyed the research project and have gained so much from the experience. As well as learning a lot about mass market romance and its readers, the scholarship enabled me to experience research first hand, something that I had never done before. On a practical level, it was the first time I had ever done archival research and I also learned how to use a microfilm reader and create a website. But I also had the opportunity to spend a serious amount of time investigating something I am very interested in and was able to ask lots of questions and voice my own ideas. The research project at its heart was a collaborative process, and I really enjoyed meeting regularly with Dr Longworth and talking about everything we were researching. The scholarship has really encouraged me to think about postgraduate study and has made me feel confident and actually quite excited about my dissertation and other third year modules. I am also going to be helping Dr Longworth with a Mills & Boon event for the Book to the Future Festival and have been invited to participate with the organisation of a IASPR, (International Association for the Study of Popular Romance) conference celebrating the centenary of The Sheik, which will be hosted by the University of Birmingham next year.
Flora Perara, BA English