Abstract
Georgette Heyer wrote some of the most celebrated and popular historical romances ever published. Her novels also push against the constraints of genre, particularly in relation to the things--surveillance and male violence, syphilis, incarceration of those wrongfully deemed to be insane, the spoils of empire--that romance must leave out or downplay in order that the prospect of the “happy ever after” it promises can be fulfilled. This essay tracks a creative tension that emerges in formal instabilities and in terms of content, what Heyer includes, what she leaves out, and what is still yet apparent through its traces. The ideal of a benign stability within families is shown to be as vulnerable to disruption as dreams of the perfect romance coupling, compromised by the power struggles that she shows to be endemic in family life. The troublesome (as families often perceive it) force of sexual desire is validated in the novels by the unvaryingly happy ending determined by the romance formula yet, within the constraints of genre, subtleties in plotting and language, an historical context that is both exploited and elided, create a space for Heyer, and the reader, to reflect, on the nature of the optimistic outcomes she constructs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-19 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Journal of Popular Romance Studies |
| Volume | 11 |
| Publication status | Published - May 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- genre
- Georgette Heyer
- power
- Regency
- syphilis
- violence