Right Romance: Heroic Subjectivity and Elect Community in Seventeenth-Century England

Right Romance by Emily Griffiths Jones explores how writers in England between 1588 and 1688 used the romance genre to construct diverse ideological communities during a politically turbulent time. It challenges the assumption that romance was a short-lived mode and argues for a recontextualized understanding of romance as a multigeneric narrative structure. The book pairs writers from both sides of the English Civil War to illustrate the ongoing ideological struggles over romance and its relationship to election, community, gender, and generic form.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 21 December 2020
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press

Right Romance: The Political and Religious Dimensions of Seventeenth-Century English Romance

In her groundbreaking book, Emily Griffiths Jones delves into the intricate intersections of romance, religion, and politics in England between 1588 and 1688. Through a meticulous examination of the literary landscape during this politically turbulent period, Jones reveals how writers employed the genre of romance to forge diverse ideological communities for themselves.

Right Romance challenges the conventional notion that romance was merely a short-lived mode associated with royalist politics. Instead, it advocates for a recontextualized understanding of romance as a multigeneric narrative structure or strategy. This perspective rejects the narrow confines of prose genre classification and opens up new avenues for exploring the complexities of romance.

Puritan republicans, too, recognized the power and significance of romance in their quest for political resistance. They found solace and inspiration in the tales of love and adventure, using them as tools to challenge the dominant religious and political structures of their time. Two seminal works that profoundly influenced seventeenth-century approaches to romance were Philip Sidney's New Arcadia and Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene. These works grappled with the civic potential of romance and its limitations within a newly Protestant state.

Jones meticulously examines how these works influenced writings by royalists and republicans during and after the English Civil War. By pairing writers from both sides of the conflict, she sheds light on the ongoing ideological struggles over romance. John Milton, Margaret Cavendish, Percy Herbert, Lucy Hutchinson, John Dryden, John Bunyan, and Aphra Behn are among the writers whose works are analyzed in depth to explore the diverse ways in which romance shaped their political and religious beliefs.

In the final chapter, Jones delves into texts by John Bunyan and Aphra Behn that are renowned for their resistance to generic categorization. These works challenge the conventional boundaries of romance and invite us to rethink its relationship to election, community, gender, and generic form. Through a close reading of these texts, Jones offers fresh insights into the complex ways in which romance influenced the construction of national, communal, and personal identity in seventeenth-century England.

Right Romance is a groundbreaking work that advances theoretical discussion about romance. It pushes beyond the limits of the genre and explores its profound impact on constructions of national, communal, and personal identity. Jones' meticulous research and insightful analysis make this book a must-read for scholars and enthusiasts alike who seek to understand the multifaceted dimensions of romance in seventeenth-century England.

Weight: 434g
Dimension: 229 x 151 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780271088099