Date of Award
Spring 5-30-2025
Document Type
Honors Project
University Scholars Director
Dr. Joshua Tom
First Advisor/Committee Member
Liz Gruchala-Gilbert, MAT, MLIS
Keywords
Romance Genre, Popular Romance, Popular Fiction, Literary Taste, Feminist Criticism
Abstract
Amidst the increasing popularity of the romance genre, as evidenced by notable growth on online platforms such as TikTok, this project interrogates the perceived value and function of contemporary romance fiction. Drawing on the existing field of romance scholarship, this paper synthesizes key arguments pertaining to romance’s content, readers, form, and market, respectively. Such analysis is grounded in a reading of Ana Huang’s 2021 novel Twisted Love. Furthermore, given the highly gendered nature of popular romance, lenses of feminist critique are used to unpack the cultural significance of these narratives, exploring both the dangers and the merits that they provide for women.
Recommended Citation
Chan, McKenzie, "SILLY LITTLE ROMANCE BOOKS: ANALYZING THE VALUE AND FUNCTION OF THE POPULAR ROMANCE GENRE" (2025). Honors Projects. 240.
https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects/240
Copyright Status
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Additional Rights Information
Copyright held by author.
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons
