https://daily.jstor.org/why-are-so-many-romances-set-in-the-regency-period/ Skip to content [j_dailylogo_header_184x60] where news meets its scholarly match * Newsletters * * * [ ] * Arts & Culture + Art & Art History + Film & Media + Language & Literature + Performing Arts * Business & Economics + Business + Economics * Politics & History + Politics & Government + U.S. History + World History + Social History + Quirky History * Science & Technology + Health + Natural Science + Plants & Animals + Sustainability & The Environment + Technology * Education & Society + Education + Lifestyle + Religion + Social Sciences * About JSTOR Daily * Newsletters * Contact The Editors * Support JSTOR Daily Arts & Culture Why Are So Many Romances Set in the Regency Period? The British Regency era lasted less than a decade, but it spawned a staggering number of unlikely fictional marriages. a caricature of three women whose depicted clothing satirizes the beginnings of neo-classical fashion influences in England. A caricature of three women whose depicted clothing satirizes the beginnings of neo-classical fashion influences in England. via Wikimedia Commons By: Jess Romeo January 18, 2021 January 19, 2021 3 minutes Share Tweet Email Print On December 25, 2020, Netflix released Bridgerton, a book-to-screen adaption of Julia Quinn's popular romance novel The Duke and I. Only four weeks after its debut, the series reportedly became one of the streaming giant's most-watched shows. According to Netflix, around 63 million households immersed themselves in this steamy historical romance. Romance is one of the most lucrative fiction genres, a billion-dollar industry featuring stories full of banter, courtship, and smoldering chemistry. The Bridgerton books represent just one example of a wildly popular subgenre: the Regency romance. Some common tropes found in these stories include an anachronistically independent heroine who must contend with strict social rules, a Season packed with balls and dances, vicious gossip that spreads like wildfire, and a happily-ever-after with a reformed rake of a duke (or viscount). So how did an entire subgenre of literature spring up around a few thousand rich people who lived during the 1810s? The real-life Regency period lasted less than a decade (from 1811 to 1820). It began when King George III was deemed too mad to rule the United Kingdom. His son, George IV, was appointed to act in his stead as Regent, or proxy ruler. And during this nine-year period, the aristocracy flourished. Fashionable society was known as the le bon ton, French for "in the fashionable mode." In Catherine Gore's 1841 silver fork novel, Cecil, one of the characters eulogizes George IV's reign as "holiday time for people intent upon promoting the greatest happiness of the smallest number," notes scholar Winifred Hughes. So how did an entire subgenre of literature spring up around a few thousand rich people who lived during the 1810s? For the origins of the modern Regency romance, look to the works of Georgette Heyer. Starting in 1935, Heyer wrote over two dozen meticulously researched historical books, all set in Jane Austen's era, with an obsessive focus on London's tiny upper class. According to literary scholar Diana Wallace, it was the incredible popularity of Heyer's historical novels that helped transform historical fiction into a more feminine space that continues to "centralise female subjectivity, desires and apprehensions to an unusual extent." Heavily rooted in the conventions of the Regency period, certain characteristics shaped the "traditional Regency romance," including what librarians Neal Wyatt, Georgine Olson, Kristin Ramsdell, Joyce Saricks, and Lynne Welch call "sparkling dialogue; intelligent, well-turned phrases; a glittering, though highly restrictive, social backdrop; and a preoccupation with the importance of social consequence and behavior[.]" Weekly Newsletter Get your fix of JSTOR Daily's best stories in your inbox each Thursday. [ ][Subscribe] Privacy Policy Contact Us You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link on any marketing message. But the subgenre evolved. "As the popularity of the traditional Regency [romance] waned, the Regency-set historical [romance] stepped up to take its place," according to Wyatt et al. The difference between the strict form of a traditional Regency romance (which Heyer wrote) and a historical romance set in the Regency period (like the Bridgerton books) is easy to spot: "Bolder, sexier, more adventurous, and less restricted, these lively tales kept the trappings of the period but often forfeited much of the traditional sub-genre's core appeal in order to fit the broader historical mold." Regency-set historical romances can range from frothy comedy to suspense to hardcore erotica. And in all of these stories, the period's strange, ephemeral cultural moment is a vital backdrop for the romantic plot. From the strict hierarchies to the careful etiquette to the gowns, there's plenty about the Regency period to keep readers wanting more. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Support JSTOR Daily! Join our new membership program on Patreon today. Share Tweet Email Print Have a correction or comment about this article? Please contact us. EnglandEuropean literatureCritical Survey Nineteenth-Century LiteratureReference & User Services Quarterly JSTOR logo Resources JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR. Elegies for the Regency: Catherine Gore's Dandy Novels By: Winifred Hughes Nineteenth-Century Literature, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Sep., 1995), pp. 189-209 University of California Press 'History to the Defeated': Women Writers and the Historical Novel in the Thirties By: DIANA WALLACE Critical Survey, Vol. 15, No. 2, Literature of the Thirties (2003), pp. 76-92 Berghahn Books Core Collections in Genre Studies: Romance Fiction 101 By: Neal Wyatt, Georgine Olson, Kristin Ramsdell, Joyce Saricks and Lynne Welch Reference & User Services Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Winter 2007), pp. 120-126 American Library Association Join Our Newsletter Get your fix of JSTOR Daily's best stories in your inbox each Thursday. [ ][Subscribe] Privacy Policy Contact Us You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link on any marketing message. Read this next Charlotte Bronte Arts & Culture Sorry, but Jane Eyre Isn't the Romance You Want It to Be Charlotte Bronte, a woman whose life was steeped in stifled near-romance, refused to write love as ruly, predictable, or safe. Trending Posts 1. How White Supremacy Is Like a Drug 2. An Archeologist's Guide to Beer Cans 3. Why Are So Many Romances Set in the Regency Period? 4. Herbs & Verbs: How to Do Witchcraft for Real 5. The Devastation of Black Wall Street More Stories Fredi Washington and Louise Beavers in a scene from Imitation of Life Film & Media Why Didn't Movies about Passing Cast Black Actors? "Social problem" films were all the rage after World War II. So how could movies about racism be so conservative? An illustration for Jesse James at Long Branch in the magazine Log Cabin Library, 1898. Performing Arts The Murder Ballad Was the Original True Crime Podcast The 1896 version of crime sensationalism also taught the victim-blaming lesson "Stay Sexy, Don't Get Murdered." Zora Neale Hurston, 1937 Art & Art History Zora Neale Hurston In a controversial letter, the versatile author expressed frustration with critics of segregation. African Phantasy : Awakening by Winold Reiss Art & Art History The New Negro and the Dawn of the Harlem Renaissance In 1925, an anthology of Black creative work heralded the arrival of a movement that had been years in the making. Recent Posts 1. The Tragedy at Buffalo Creek 2. Why Didn't Movies about Passing Cast Black Actors? 3. White Women and the Mahjong Craze 4. Black Memes, Patriotic Education, and Vocal Tricks 5. How Civil Rights Groups Used Photography for Change Support JSTOR Daily Help us keep publishing stories that provide scholarly context to the news. Become a member JSTOR Daily provides context for current events using scholarship found in JSTOR, a digital library of academic journals, books, and other material. We publish articles grounded in peer-reviewed research and provide free access to that research for all of our readers. * Contact The Editors * Submission Guidelines * Masthead * Newsletters * About Us * RSS * Support JSTOR Daily * JSTOR.org * Terms and Conditions of Use * Privacy Policy * Cookie Policy * Accessibility logo JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. (c) ITHAKA. All Rights Reserved. JSTOR(r), the JSTOR logo, and ITHAKA(r) are registered trademarks of ITHAKA. Sign up for our weekly newsletter Get your fix of JSTOR Daily's best stories in your inbox each Thursday. [ ][Subscribe] Privacy Policy Contact Us You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link on any marketing message. x