In A Natural History of the Romance Novel, Pamela Regis defines the romance novel as "a work of prose fiction that tells the story of the courtship and betrothal of one or more heroines" (19). Using this definition, Tarzan cannot be a romance novel, since *SPOILER ALERT* Jane and Tarzan don't end up together at the end of the novel. It is also much more about Tarzan that it is about Jane, so the story does not revolve around the heroine.
However, in Conrad Sucatre's book, Old School Romance, in which he talks about romance fiction before the Harlequin boom of the 1970s, he complicates this simple definition. Using Gone with the Wind as an example, he outlines characteristics of romance fiction in the 1930s:
1: Blunt, realistic dialog.
2: A great deal of action.
3: Characters who all wear their emotions on their sleeves.
4: The story continues after marriage, rather than ending with the wedding of Scarlett and Rhett.
5: Very imperfect, very human lead characters. (11)
Note that crucial difference -- by Sucatre's definition, the romance novel doesn't need to end in marriage/betrothal. As he points out, in Gone with the Wind, arguably one of the most widely recognizable romance novels/films of Western history, the hero and heroine don't even end up together at the end.
Sucatre argues that Edgar Rice Burroughs (author of the Tarzan series) was a romance writer; in fact, Tarzan was originally subtitled A Romance of the Jungle (37). After reading it I'm more than willing to recognize it as such, despite the non-cannon ending. But I'm left wondering if there's any definition of romance fiction that will work across a wide range of tastes and interests. Here's one that works for me:
Romance fiction is fiction whose plot centers around the romantic relationship of two or more people.
That's broad enough to cover a lot of options, including non-heteronormative romances such as those featuring more than two people, same sex couplings, etc. However, it still gets to the heart of what I consider romance fiction - a work revolving around the dynamics of a romantic relationship. Hmm, it's already starting to seem problematic though, because what about novels about the dissolution of romantic relationships? Perhaps it should be "the romantic courtship" of two or more people? But I dislike the conservative connotation of "courtship." Hmm, it definitely needs thinking about...
- Regis, Pamela. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia: U of Penn P, 2003.
- Sucatre, Conrad. Old School Romance. Goose Creek: Vintage Romance Publishing, 2005.
