Romance is "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents", a narrative method that was contrasted to the new, main tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries: the novel, which realistically depicts life."Essay on Romance", Prose Works volume vi, p. 129, quoted in "Introduction" to Walter Scott's Quentin Durward, ed. Susan Maning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992, p. xxv. Walter Scott described romance as a "kindred term" to novel,Walter Scott, "Essay on Romance", p. 129. and many European languages do not distinguish between them (e.g., ", , " in French, German, and Italian, respectively).Margaret Anne Doody. The True Story of the Novel. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, p. 15.
There is a second type of romance: love romances in genre fiction, where the primary focus is on love and marriage.Pamela Regis. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003 The term "romance" is now mainly used to refer to this type, and for other fiction it is "now chiefly archaic and historical" (OED). Works of fiction such as Wuthering HeightsMargaret Doody, p. 19. and Jane EyreTimothy Roberts, (2011). Jane Eyre. p. 8 combine elements from both types.
Although early stories of historical romance often took the form of the romance,J. A. Cuddon, The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory,4th edition, revised C. E. Preston. London: Penguin, 1999, p. 761> the terms "romance novel" and "historical romance" are confusing, because the words "romance" and "romantic" have held multiple meanings historically: referring to either romantic love or "the character or quality that makes something appeal strongly to the imagination, and sets it apart from [...] everyday life"; this latter sense is associated with "adventure, heroism, chivalry, etc." (OED), and connects the romance form with the Romantic movement, and the gothic novel, as well as the medieval romance tradition,David Punter, The Gothic, London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004, p. 178. though the genre has a long history that includes the ancient Greek novel.Margaret Anne Doody. "Introduction", The True Story of the Novel, pp. 1-11.
In addition to Walter Scott other romance writers (as defined by Scott) include the Brontës, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Victor Hugo, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Thomas Hardy. Later examples are, Joseph Conrad, John Cowper Powys, J. R. R. Tolkien and A. S. Byatt.
Definition The American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne described a romance as being radically different from a novel by not being concerned with the possible or probable course of ordinary experience.Joel Porte, The Romance in America: Studies in Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, and James. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1969., p. 95
The term romance is applied across a number of genres, including the love romance novel, the historical novel, the adventure novel, and scientific romance (an older term for what is now called science fiction). Works of nautical fiction can also be romances, as the genre often overlaps with historical romance, adventure fiction, and fantasy stories. The more modern term historical fantasy covers one sort of "romance".
The following are the two main definitions relating to literature found in the Oxford English Dictionary: A fictitious narrative, usually in prose, in which the settings or the events depicted are remote from everyday life, or in which sensational or exciting events or adventures form the central theme; a book, etc., containing such a narrative. Now chiefly archaic and historical; A story of romantic love, esp. one which deals with love in a sentimental or idealized way; a book, film, etc., with a narrative or story of this kind. Also as mass noun: literature of this kind.
Overlap is also sometimes found between the above terms, when literary romance also contains a strong love interest. Examples include Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.
And in other words: With the rise of realism in the novel, the romance began to be considered a less serious and more frivolous genre, so that in the 20th century the term 'romantic novel' is often used disparagingly, to imply a contrast with a realist novel ... The term gradually came to mean any fiction remote from the conditions and concerns of everyday life. In this sense, romance is a broad term which can include or overlap with such genres as the historical novel or fantasy. In popular culture, however, a romance has come to mean specifically a love story, in which a happy ending follows a series of vicissitudes.from "Romance", The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide, edited by Helicon. Helicon, 2018, np., online.
As noted above a relationship exists between romance and "fantasy", something which arises in particular because of the relationship between this type of novel and medieval chivalric romances.
The most common fantasy world is one based on medieval Europe, and has been since William Morris used it in his early fantasy works, such as The Well at the World's End.Diana Waggoner, The Hills of Faraway: A Guide to Fantasy, p 37, and particularly since the 1954 publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Such a world is often called "pseudo-medieval"—particularly when the writer has snatched up random elements from the era, which covered a thousand years and a continent, and thrown them together without consideration for their compatibility, or even introduced ideas not so much based on the medieval era as on romanticized views of it. When these worlds are copied not so much from history as from other fantasy works, there is a heavy tendency to uniformity and lack of realism.John Grant, "Gulliver Unravels: Generic Fantasy and the Loss of Subversion " The full width and breadth of the medieval era is seldom drawn upon. Governments, for instance, tend to be uncompromisingly feudal-based, or evil empires or oligarchies, usually corrupt, while there was far more variety of rule in the actual Middle Ages.Alec Austin, "Quality in Epic Fantasy" Fantasy worlds also tend to be economically medieval, and disproportionately pastoral.Jane Yolen, "Introduction" p viii After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed, Martin H. Greenberg,
Origins Early romance The Epic of Gilgamesh may be considered a romance by some definitions. Gardner and Maier define Sîn-lēqi-unninni's version (13th–10th centuries) as a romance, centered around a heroic quest (perilous journey, preliminary minor battles, a crucial conflict, a tragic turn, then the exaltation of the hero).
Medieval romance As a literary genre of high culture, "heroic romance" or "chivalric romance" is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric knight-errant portrayed as having heroic qualities, who goes on a quest. The word medieval also evokes distressed damsels, dragons, and other romantic tropes. It developed further from the epics as time went on; in particular, "the emphasis on love and courtly manners distinguishes it from the and other kinds of epic, in which masculine military heroism predominates."
Later influence Edward Dowden argued that Shakespeare's late comedies should be called "romances", because they resemble late medieval and early modern "chivalric romance".Raphael Lyne. Shakespeare's Late Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 6 and 99
The rise of the modern novel as an alternative to the chivalric romance began with Miguel de Cervantes, and, especially with, Don Quixote (1605, 1615).See Paul Scarron, The Comical Romance, Chapter XXI. "Which perhaps will not be found very Entertaining" (London, 1700) with its call for the new genre. online edition Initially seen as a comedy satirizing chivalry, in the 19th century it was seen as a social commentary, but no one could easily tell "whose side Cervantes was on". Many critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which Don Quixote's idealism and nobility are viewed by the post-chivalric world as insane, and are defeated and rendered useless by common reality.Edith Grossman about Don Quixote as tragedy and comedy a discussion held in New York City on 5 February 2009 by Words Without Borders (YouTube)
While the modern literary fiction romance was influenced by medieval romance via the Gothic novel, and the interest of Romantic writers in the medieval period, William Morris and J. R. R. Tolkien were directly influenced by medieval literature. In the nineteenth century William Morris wrote a series of imaginative fictions usually referred to as the "prose romances", which were attempts to revive the genre of medieval romance, and written in imitation of medieval prose. These novels – including The Wood Beyond the World and The Well at the World's End – have been credited as important milestones in the history of fantasy fiction, because, while other writers wrote of foreign lands, or of dream worlds, or the future (as Morris did in News from Nowhere), Morris's works were the first to be set in an entirely invented fantasy world.Lin Carter, ed. Kingdoms of Sorcery, p. 39 Doubleday and Company Garden City, NY, 1976. On its publication, The Well at the World's End was praised by H. G. Wells, who compared the book to Malory and admired its writing style.Harold Bloom (editor), "William Morris" in Classic Fantasy Writers. Chelsea House Publishers, 1994 , p. 153.
J. R. R. Tolkien objected to The Lord of the Rings being called a novel, as he viewed it as a heroic romance.Humphrey Carpenter, ed., The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981, letter #239 to Peter Szabo Szentmihalyi, draft, October 1971. Literary critics also apply the term high fantasy to The Lord of the Rings.Gardner Dozois, "Preface". Modern Classics of Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. pp. xvi-xvii
While fantasy is, generally speaking, not significant in the works of romance writers, Walter Scott's definition includes "marvellous and uncommon incidents". Hawthorne, as noted above, also described romance as "not being concerned with the possible or probable course of ordinary experience".
Gothic novel
From 1764, with the Horace Walpole's gothic novel The Castle of Otranto, the romance genre experienced a revival. Other important works are Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and 'Monk' Lewis's The Monk (1795).
In the preface of the second edition, Walpole claims The Castle of Otranto is "an attempt to blend the two kinds of romance, the ancient and the modern." He defines the "ancient" romance as being defined by its fantastic nature ("its imagination and improbability") while defining the "modern" romance as being more deeply rooted in literary realism ("a strict adherence to common life," in his words). By combining fantastic situations (helmets falling from the sky, walking portraits, etc.) with supposedly real people acting in a "natural" manner, Walpole created a new and distinct style of literary fiction, which has frequently been cited as a template for all subsequent gothic novels. The Monthly Review stated that for "[t]hose who can digest the absurdities of Gothic fiction" Otranto offered "considerable entertainment".Clemens, Valdine. The Return of the Repressed Albany. 1999. State University of New York Press. p.30