Romance (prose fiction)

Common card · No. 438106

Romance is "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents", a narrative method that was contrasted to the new, main tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries: the novel, which realistically depicts life. Walter Scott described romance as a "kindred term" to novel, and many European languages do not distinguish between them (e.g., "le roman, der Roman, il romanzo" in French, German, and Italian, respectively). There is a second type of romance: love romances in genre fiction, where the primary focus is on love and marriage. The term "romance" is now mainly used to refer to this type, and for other fiction it is "now chiefly archaic and historical" (OED). Works of fiction such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre combine elements from both types. Although early stories of historical romance often took the form of the romance, the terms "romance novel" and "historical romance" are confusing, because the words "romance" and "romantic...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (1872-1898) for Le Morte d'Arthur: J. M. Dent & Co. _ Year : 1893, Public domain