Bibliography H-L

Items with the "**" have not been personally checked. This means that the details given in the entry may not be entirely accurate.

From this page you may return to the main Romance Scholarship page or go directly to

• Bibliography A-G - the first half of our bibliography of academic articles and books about romance.
• Bibliography P-Z - end of the bibliography of academic articles and books about romance.
• Academic Online Essays (not published in academic journals or volumes)
• Dissertation Abstracts
• Scholarship in Languages Other than English.
• Romance Resources for Academics - lists romance-related resources which may be of interest to academics.
• Writers on Romance - lists items written about the genre by romance authors but not published in academic journals or books.
• Romance in the Media - lists news items/features items about romance.

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H

Haddad, Emily A., 2007. 

'Bound to Love: Captivity in Harlequin Sheikh Novels.' in Empowerment versus Oppression: Twenty First Century Views of Popular Romance Novels. ed. Sally Goade, (Newcastle, U.K.:Cambridge Scholars Pub.) pp. 42-64.

Hains, Maryellen, 1989. 

“Beauty and the Beast: 20th Century Romance?” Merveilles & contes 3: 75–83.** [The journal seems to go under the name Marvels & Tales now]

Hall,Glinda Fountain, 2008. 

"Inverting the Southern Belle: Romance Writers Redefine Gender Myths. " Journal of Popular Culture 41.1: 37-55.

Hassencahl, Fran, 1980. 

"Persecutors, Victims and Rescuers in Harlequin Romances." Paper presented at the combined Annual Meeting of the Midwest Popular Culture Association and the Midwest American Culture Association (Kalamazoo, MI, October 23-25, 1980). 20 pgs. ERIC document ED207086.

Hazen, Helen, 1983. 

Endless Rapture; Rape, Romance, and the Female Imagination. New York:: Scribner's. (Chapter 1 - Romance Novels)

Heinecken, Dawn, 1999. 

'Changing Ideologies in Romance Fiction', in Romantic Conventions, see below, pp. 149-72.

Heller, Tamar, 1997. 

'Having It All: Consumption and Ideological Tension in an Innovative Romance Novel.' Genre: Forms of Discourse and Culture 30.3:243-264. [The article focuses on Free Spirit by Fern Michael]

Hermes, Joke, 1992. 

‘Sexuality in Lesbian Romance Fiction’, Feminist Review, 42: 49-66.

Hermes, Joke, 1992. 

'Entertainment or Enlightenment - Sexuality In Lesbian Romance Novels', Argument, 34.3:389-402.

Hey, Valerie, 1983. 

The Necessity of Romance, Women’s Studies Occasional Papers, 3 (Canterbury: University of Kent).

Hinnant, Charles H., 2003.

"Desire and the Marketplace: A Reading of Kathleen Woodiwiss's The Flame and the Flower," in Doubled Plots: Romance and History, see above, pp. 147-164.

Holmes, Diana, 2003. 

'Decadent Love: Rachilde and the Popular Romance', Dix-Neuf: Journal of the Society of Dix-Neuviémistes, 1: 16-28. pdf available here [Holmes argues that Rachilde's work, particularly Le Dessous (1904), 'performs the feat of providing simultaneously the pleasures of romance and a derisive critique of the genre']

Holmes, Diana, 2006. 

Romance and Readership in Twentieth-Century France; Love Stories. (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Description and link to pdf of the first chapter. Description and more excerpts.

Hubbard, Rita C., 1983. 

'The Changing-Unchanging Heroines and Heroes of Harlequin Romances, 1950-1979. in The Hero in Transition.,ed. Ray B. Browne and Marshall W. Fishwick, (Bowling Green, OH: Popular), pp. 171-179.

Hubbard, Rita C., 1985. 

'Relationship Styles in Popular Romance Novels, 1950-1983', Communication Quarterly, 33.2: 113-25.** Republished in Methods of Rhetorical Criticism, ed. B. L. Brock, R. L. Scott and J. Chesebro, 1990 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press).**

Hubbard, Rita C., 1992. 

'Magic and Transformation: Relationships in Popular Romance Novels, 1950 to the 1980s', in Popular Culture: An Introductory Text, ed. Kevin Lause & Jack Nachbar (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press), pp. 476-488. **

Hughes, Helen, 1993. 

The Historical Romance. (London:Routledge) Synopsis

Huntwork, Mary M., 1990. 

"Why Girls Flock to Sweet Valley High." School Library Journal 36.3 : 137-140.

J

Jackson, Stevi, 1995. 

'Women and Heterosexual Love: Complicity, Resistance and Change', in Romance Revisited , ed. Jackie Stacey and Lynne Pearce (New York: New York UP), pp. 49-62.

Jarvis, Christine, 1995. 

'Romancing the Curriculum: Empowerment through Popular Culture',Convergence, 28.3: 71-7. Abstract

Jarvis, Christine, 1999. 

'Love Changes Everything: The Transformative Potential of Popular Romantic Fiction', Studies in the Education of Adults, 31.2:109-122. Abstract

Jensen, Margaret Ann, 1984. 

Love's $weet Return: The Harlequin Story (Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press). **

Johnson-Kurek, Rosemary E., 1999. 

' "I Am Not a Bimbo": Persona, Promotion, and the Fabulous Fabio', in Romantic Conventions, see below, pp. 35-50.

Johnson-Kurek, Rosemary E., 1999. 

'Leading Us into Temptation: The Language of Sex and the Power of Love', in Romantic Conventions, see below, pp. 113-48.

Johnson-Woods, T., 2005. 

'From Australia With Love: A History Of Modern Australian Popular Romance Novels,' Australian Literary Studies, 22.1:119-120. [This is a book review of Juliet Flesch's book, listed elsewhere in this bibliography]

Jones, Ann Rosalind, 1986. 

‘Mills & Boon Meets Feminism’, in The Progress of Romance: The Politics of Popular Fiction, ed. Jean Radford (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul), pp. 195-218.

Juhasz, Suzanne, 1988. 

‘Texts to Grow On: Reading Women’s Romance Fiction’, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, 7:2: 239-259.

Juhasz, Suzanne, 1998. 

'Lesbian Romance Fiction and the Plotting of Desire: Narrative Theory, Lesbian Identity, and Reading Practice', Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, 17.1: 65-82.

K

Kaler, Anne K., 2000. 

"Dysfunctional Detectives and Romantic P. I.s: Impediments to the Happy Marriage of Mystery and Romance." Clues: A Journal of Detection, 21.1: 61-72.

Kaler, Anne K., 1999. 

'Conventions of Captivity in Romance Novels', in Romantic Conventions, see below, pp. 86-99.

Kaler, Anne K., 1999. 

' Hero, Heroine, or HERA: A New Name for an Old Problem', in Romantic Conventions, see below, pp. 187-92.

Kamble, Jayashree, 2007. 

'Female Enfranchisement and the Popular Romance: Employing an Indian Perspective.' in Empowerment versus Oppression: Twenty First Century Views of Popular Romance Novels. ed. Sally Goade, (Newcastle, U.K.:Cambridge Scholars Pub.) pp. 148-173.

Kapell, Matthew, and Suzanne Becker., 2005. 

'Patriarchy, the Christian Romance Novel, and the 'Ecosystem of Sex'.' Popular Culture Review 16.1:147-155.

Kemppinen, Anne, 1989. 

“Translation for Popular Literature with Special Reference to Harlequin Books and their Finnish Translation”, in Empirical Studies in Translation and Linguistics, Studies in Languages, nº 17, ed. Sonja Tirkkonen-Condit & Stephen Condit (Savonlinna: University of Joensuu, Faculty of Arts), pp. 25-36.**

Killing, Peter, 1978. 

Harlequin Enterprises Limited: Case Material of the Western School of Business Administration (London, Ontario: University of Western Ontario). **

Koski, Patricia, Holyfield, Lori, and Marcella Thompson, 1997. 

"Romance Novels as Women's Myths." Paradoxa: Studies in World Literary Genres 3.1-2: 219-232.

Kramer, Daniela & Moore, Michael, 2001. 

‘Gender Roles, Romantic Fiction and Family Therapy’, Psycoloquy 12,#24 [1]

Kramer, Daniela & Moore, Michael, 2001. 

'Family Myths in Romantic Fiction', Psychological Reports, 88.1:29-41.

Kray, Susan. 1987. 

"Deconstructive Laughter: Romance Author as Subject, The Pleasure of Writing the Text." Journal of Communication Inquiry 11.2: 26-46.

Krentz, Jayne Ann, Ed. 

Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992).

Kundin, Susan G., 1985. 

"Romance versus Reality: A Look at YA Romantic Fiction." Top of the News 41.4: 361-368.

L

Labanyi, Jo, 2004. 

'Romancing the Early Franco Regime: the Novelas Románticas of Concha Linares-Becerra and Luisa-María Linares', Institute of European Studies: Occasional Papers, Working Paper OP-13 (March 5, 2004). [2]

Larcombe, Wendy, 2005. 

Compelling Engagements : Feminism, Rape Law and Romance Fiction. (Annandale, N.S.W. : Federation Press) Description and Contents

Lee, Amy, 2007. 

'Forming a Local Identity: Romance Novels in Hong Kong.' in Empowerment versus Oppression: Twenty First Century Views of Popular Romance Novels. ed. Sally Goade, (Newcastle, U.K.:Cambridge Scholars Pub.) pp. 174-197.

Lee, Linda J., 2008. 

'Guilty Pleasures: Reading Romance Novels as Reworked Fairy Tales,' Marvels & Tales, 22.1: 52-66. Abstract

Light, Alison. 1984. 

‘Returning to Manderley – Romance Fiction, Female Sexuality and Class’, Feminist Review, 16: 7-25.

Linke, Gabriele, 1997.

"Local Color in Contemporary Harlequin and Silhouette Romances: Popular Imagery of the American South and West." Mid-Atlantic Almanack: The Journal of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association 6: 14-30

Linke, Gabriele, 1997. 

"Contemporary Mass Market Romances as National and International Culture: A Comparative Study of Mills and Boon and Harlequin Romances." Paradoxa: Studies in World Literary Genres 3.1-2: 195-213.

Litton, Joyce, 1994. 

'From Seventeenth Summer to Miss Teen Sweet Valley: Female and Male Sex Roles in Teen Romances, 1942-91', in Images of the Child, ed. Harry Eiss (Bowling Green, OH: Popular), pp. 19-34.

Livingston, Eric, 2006. 

"The Textuality of Pleasure." New Literary History: A Journal of Theory and Interpretation 37.3: 655-672.(narrative technique; relationship to reading; pleasure; compared to Wilkins, Gina: Seductively Yours (2000) Harlequin Temptation #792) Abstract and excerpt

Lutz, Deborah, 2006. 

The Dangerous Lover; Gothic Villains, Byronism, and the Nineteenth-Century Seduction Narrative.(Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press). [Includes a chapter on the contemporary historical romance, which is available in pdf format, along with the introduction and bibliographical matter here ]

Lutz, Deborah, 2007. 

'The Haunted Space of the Mind: The Revival of the Gothic Romance in the Twenty-First Century.' in Empowerment versus Oppression: Twenty First Century Views of Popular Romance Novels. ed. Sally Goade, (Newcastle, U.K.:Cambridge Scholars Pub.) pp. 81-92.

M

Maher, Jennifer, 2001. 

'Ripping the Bodice: Eating, Reading, and Revolt', College Literature, 28.1:64-83.

Makinen, Merja, 2001. 

Feminist Popular Fiction. (New York: Palgrave). (Includes a chapter on 'The Romance' - for table of contents see here)

Mangat, T.K., 1998. 

'The surgeon in popular fiction - The Mills and Boon doctor-nurse romance', Theoretical Surgery, 3.2:89-92.

Mann, Peter H., 1969. 

The Romantic Novel: A Survey of Reading Habits (London: Mills & Boon).

Mann, Peter H., 1979. 

‘Romantic Fiction and its Readers’ in Entertainment: A Cross-Cultural Examination, ed. H.D. Fischer & S. R. Melnick (New York: Hastings House), pp. 34-42. **

Mann, Peter H., 1981. 

'The Romantic Novel and its Readers', Journal of Popular Culture, 15.1: 9-18.

Mann, Peter H., 1985. 

'Romantic Fiction and Its Readership', Poetics, 14.1-2: 95-105.

Margolies, David, 1982. 

‘Mills & Boon -- Guilt without sex’, Red Letters, 14: 5-13. **

Margolis, Harriet, 1997. 

"A Childe in Love, or Is It Just Fantasy? The Values of Women's Genres." Paradoxa: Studies in World Literary Genres 3.1-2: 121-144.

Markert, John, 1985. 

'Romance Publishing and the Production of Culture', Poetics, 14.1-2: 69-93.

Marks, Pamela. 1999. 

'The Good Provider in Romance Novels', in Romantic Conventions, see below, pp. 10-22.

Masteller, Jean Carwile, 1996. 

'Romancing the Reader: From Laura Jean Libbey to Harlequin Romance and Beyond', in Pioneers, Passionate Ladies, and Private Eyes: Dime Novels, Series Books, and Paperbacks, ed. Larry E. Sullivan, and Lydia Cushman Schurman (New York: Haworth Press). **

McAleer, Joseph. 1990. 

'Scenes from Love and Marriage: Mills and Boon and the Popular Publishing Industry in Britain, 1908-1950', Twentieth Century British History, 1.3: 264-288.

McAleer, Joseph, 1999. 

Passion's Fortune: The Story of Mills & Boon (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Contents page and excerpts available here. Pdf of the Introduction and Chapter 8 available available from here.

McCafferty, Kate, 1994. 

‘Palimpsest of Desire: The Re-Emergence of the American Captivity Narrative as Pulp Romance’, Journal of Popular Culture, 27.4: 43-56.

McCay, Mary A., 2001. 

'Love's Labors Won:Romance Fiction and the Politics of Love.' New Orleans Review, 27.1:171-183.

McCracken, Scott, 1998. 

Pulp: Reading Popular Fiction (Manchester: Manchester University Press). Chapter on 'Popular romance'

McKnight-Trontz, Jennifer, 2002. 

The Look of Love: The Art of the Romance Novel (Princeton Architectural Press). ** [This is about the cover art of romance novels from the 1940s to the 1970s] Description, small gallery of photos and an audio report from NPR radio Search inside via Amazon - Index page and excerpts

Mendez Jose Luis, 1986. 

"The Novels of Corin Tellado." Studies in Latin American Popular Culture. 5:31-40. (Tellado is a Spanish author of romance novels)

Miles, Angela, 1988. 

‘Confessions of a Harlequin Reader: Learning Romance and the Myth of Male Mothers’, Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory, 12, no. 1-2: 1-36. **

Mitchell, Diana, 1995. 

'If You Can't Beat'em, Join 'em: Using the Romance Series to Confront Gender Stereotypes', The ALAN Review, 22.2.[3]

Mitchell, Karen S., 1996. 

‘Ever After: Reading the Women Who Read (and Re-Write) Romances’, Theatre Topics, 6.1: 51-69. [As might be supposed from the title of the Journal, this is about drama: the author 'decided to stage a performance centered on the popular romance genre and the women who read these novels']

Mitchell, M.,2006. 

'Compelling engagements: Feminism, rape law and romance fiction.' Australian Feminist Studies, 21.49: 121-122.

Modleski, Tania, 1980. 

‘The Disappearing Act: A Study of Harlequin Romances’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 5: 435-448.

Modleski, Tania, 1982. 

Loving with a Vengeance: Mass-produced fantasies for women (New York: Routledge).

Modleski, Tania, 1997. 

"My Life as a Romance Reader." Paradoxa: Studies in World Literary Genres 3.1-2: 15-28.

Modleski, Tania, and Kay Mussell, 1998. 

"My Life as a Romance Writer." Paradoxa: Studies in World Literary Genres 4.9: 134-147. (Reply to Modleski by Mussell)

Moffitt, Mary Anne, 1986. 

"Function of Hero and Heroine in Women's Formula Fiction: A Gaining of Self through Separation, Identification, and Assimilation." . Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association (36th, Chicago, IL, May 22-26, 1986), 40 pgs. ERIC document ED274005.

Moffitt, Mary Anne, 1987. 

"Understanding the Appeal of the Romance Novel for the Adolescent Girl: A Reader-Response Approach." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association (37th, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 21-25, 1987), 46 pgs ERIC document ED284190.

Moffitt, Mary Anne, 1987. 

"Understanding the "Guidebooks" to Writing Romance Fiction as Reinforcement of Self through the "Formula" Model." Paper presented at the Joint Meeting of the Central States Speech Association and the Southern Speech Communication Association (St. Louis, MO, April 9-12, 1987), 25 pgs., ERIC document ED281250.

Moffitt, Mary Anne, 1993. 

"Leisure Fiction and the Audience: Meaning and Communication Strategies." Women's Studies in Communication 16.2 : 27-61. (Examination of the leisure practice called romance reading, pursued by two audiences distinguished primarily through age differences)

Montague, Holly, 1992. 

'Sweet and Pleasant Passion: Female and Male Fantasy in Ancient Romance Novels', in Pornography and Representation in Greece and Rome, ed. Amy Richlin (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 231-249. [First page and, if you scroll down the page, an abstract.]

Moody, N., 1998. 

‘Mills & Boon’s Temptations: Sex and the Single Couple in the 1990s’ in Fatal Attractions: Rescripting Romance in Contemporary Literature and Film, ed. L. Pearce & G. Wisker (London: Pluto), pp. 141-156. **

Moore, Michael, and Daniela Kramer, 1999.

"Satir for Beginners: Incongruent Communication Patterns in Romantic Fiction." ETC: A Review of General Semantics 56.4: 429-37. First couple of paragraphs

Moran, Albert, 1990. 

'"No More Virgins": Writing Romance - an Interview with Emma Darcy', Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture, 4.1.[4]

Morgan, Paula, 2003. 

“Like Bush Fire in My Arms”: Interrogating the World of Caribbean Romance, Journal of Popular Culture 36.4: 804-827.

Muhomah, C, 2002. 

'What do women want?: Versions of masculinity in Kenyan romantic fiction,' English Studies in Africa, 45, no. 2 (2002): 77-90.

Mulhern, Chieko Irie, 1989. 

'Japanese Harlequin Romances as Transcultural Woman's Fiction', The Journal of Asian Studies, 48.1: 50-70.

Mussell, Kay, 1984. 

Fantasy and Reconciliation: Contemporary Formulas of Women's Romance Fiction (Westport CT: Greenwood Press). **

N

Neal, Lynn S, 2006. 

Romancing God: Evangelical Women and Inspirational Fiction (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press). [Description of the book and newspaper interview with the author about it.]

Neuman, Susan B., 1985. 

"The Uses of Reading Mass-Produced Romance Fiction." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Reading Association (30th, New Orleans, LA, May 5-9, 1985), 23 pgs. ERIC document ED263528.

Neylon, Virginia Lyn, 2003. 

'Reading and Writing the Romance Novel: An Analysis of Romance Fiction and Its Place in the Community College Classroom', Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (54th, New York, NY, March 19-22, 2003). 20 pgs. ERIC Document ED477339. [Available on the web in html or as a Word document from the author's webpage]

Nielsen, Inge, 2000. 

"Caught in the Web of Love: Intercepting the Young Adult Reception of Qiongyao's Romances On-Line." Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 53.3-4: 235-253.

North American Romance Writers, 1999. 

ed. Kay Mussell and Johanna Tuñón (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press).

Nye, David, 1988. 

"The Consumption of American Popular Culture." Text & Context: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 2.1: 85-93. (Harlequin Romances; relationship to popular culture; film; amusement park)

Nyquist, Mary, 1993. 

'Romance in the Forbidden Zone', in ReImagining Women: Representations of Women in Culture, ed. Shirley Neuman (ed. & introd.) and Glennis Stephenson (Toronto: U of Toronto Press),pp. 160-81.

O

Opas, Lisa Lena, and Fiona Tweedie, 1999.

"The Magic Carpet Ride: Reader Involvement in Romantic Fiction." Literary and Linguistic Computing: Journal of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing 14.1: 89-101. [An abstract of a conference paper with the same title, given by the authors the previous year, can be found here]

Osborne, Laurie E., 2002. 

"Harlequin Presents: That '70s Shakespeare and Beyond." in Shakespeare after Mass Media. Ed. Richard Burt (New York: Palgrave), pp. 127-149.(influence on Harlequin Romances)

Owen, Mairead, 1997. 

'Re-inventing romance: Reading popular romantic fiction', Women's Studies International Forum, 20.4:537-46. Abstract