Conflict and Colonialism in 21st Century Romantic Historical Fiction

Repairing the Past, Repurposing History

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Contributor(s)
Teo, Hsu-Ming (editor)
Fresno-Calleja, Paloma (editor)
Language
English
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Abstract
This book explores how postmillennial Anglophone women writers use romantic narrativisations of history to explore, revise, repurpose and challenge the past in their novels, exposing the extent to which past societies were damaging to women by instead imagining alternative histories. The novelists discussed employ the generic conventions of romance to narrate their understanding of historical and contemporary injustice and to reflect upon women’s achievements and the price they paid for autonomy and a life of public purpose. The volume seeks, firstly, to discuss the work of revision or reparation being performed by romantic historical fiction and, secondly, to analyse how the past is being repurposed for use in the present. It contends that the discourses and genre of romance work to provide a reparative reading of the past, but there are limitations and entrenched problems in such readings.
URI
https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/138702
Keywords
Sexual Justice,Historical Romance,Caribbean Historical Romance,Caribbean Literature,US Civil War,Quaker,the Spanish Civil War,The Faithless Wife,Parsons Yazzie,Her Land, Her Love,Navajo,Pacific War,Holocaust Literature,Plantation Life,Sarah Lark,Women’s Suffrage,Suffragette,Conflict and Colonialism in 21st Century Romantic Historical Fiction,Hsu-Ming Teo,Paloma Fresno-Calleja,Routledge Research in Women's Literature,postmillennial Anglophone women writers,romantic narrativisations of history,alternative histories,romance,romantic historical fiction,historical and contemporary injustice; thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism; thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSK Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers; thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTQ Colonialism and imperialism
DOI
10.4324/9781003493792
ISBN
9781003493792, 9781032778211, 9781032797724
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Publisher website
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/
Publication date and place
2025
Imprint
Routledge
Series
Routledge Research in Women's Literature,

Chapters in this book

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    Granadino, Alan; Nygård, Stefan; Stadius, Peter (2022)
    "With a combined focus on social democrats in Northern and Southern Europe, this book crucially broadens our understanding of the transformation of European social democracy from the mid-1970s to the early-1990s. In doing ...
  • Chapter Introduction
    Teo, Hsu-Ming; Fresno-Calleja, Paloma (2025)
    This book explores how postmillennial Anglophone women writers use romantic narrativisations of history to explore, revise, repurpose and challenge the past in their novels, exposing the extent to which past societies were ...