I received this email from Michelle Buonfiglio of Romance by the Blog and I felt the request was perfect for our intelligent and enthusiastic Risky Regencies readers (that means ALL of you!)

Here it is:

Monday, April 16th at www.RomanceByTheBlog.blogspot.com.

My pal Bill Gleason is a Princeton prof, and this Monday his “American Best Sellers” class will be spending the day at Romance: By the Blog to learn about the romance genre from the women and men who read and write it. The students, who in class are examining popular works of American literature in their historical contexts, have created a list of general questions they’d like to start with. From there? Who knows what sorts of mischief we can lead them into?

Won’t you please visit and take part in this fun, groundbreaking experiment to excite bright young minds about our important, vibrant genre?

Some of the questions/topics students wish to discuss:

1. Do you feel romance novels objectify men/women? If so, does this bother you?
2. If seduction is more than a whirlwind of passion, to what extent do aesthetic elements operate in its nature and in the texts themselves? Also, are there other traces of formal elements at play in these novels that might give them greater literary status than the typical mass-produced, formulaic fiction?
3. Do you consider the novels a form of pornography?
4. What’s the appeal of the novels to men?
5. Since they’ve studied “Gone With the Wind,” they’ll also be talking about why it’s “not” a romance.

I look forward to your joining us. Please let me know if you’ve got any questions. And please do invite any friends — especially readers — you feel can add to a lively and positive discussion.

All Best,

Michelle

Michelle Buonfiglio
Romance: B(u)y the Book™
mbuonfiglio@RBtheBook.com

www.RomanceBuyTheBook.com — Only the Good Stuff: Weekly Feature Reviews, AuthorView Interviews, More!

I’m going over there now to say my piece and I hope you will, too.
Here at Risky Regencies we can discuss what we think of whatever is going on there!!

As Michelle would say, Ciao, Bellas
Diane

Oh Oh! Innocence and Impropriety was reviewed in the Chicago Tribune yesterday! (along with several other romances, but it was there! ) Take a peek HERE! (you have to go to the second page to see the actual review. Scroll down. It’s there!)