A common response among readers when they’re asked why they like to read romance novels is that they like the escape. They love leaving behind their “real world†to read about Regency London, vampires, billionaires, Navy SEALs, secret babies and cowboys. As an added bonus, there’s the promise of afterglow with the happily-ever-after.
The flip side is that “escapism†is also a criticism hurled by the genre’s detractors. Escapism is dirty. Escapism means they’re not valid, “real books.†“Real books†have merit, value, and certainly aren’t disposable.
The irony is that in the rush to smear romance with this broad brush, what the detractors have failed to realize is that the vast majority of reading involves some form of escape. If you haven’t experienced it personally, how does that not make it escapist?
Let’s look at a few titles currently very popular among my library patrons:
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert – a non-fiction account of the author’s world travels and her journey of self-discovery.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini – a novel described by Publisher’s Weekly as a “searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil.â€
Clapton by Eric Clapton – the British guitar god’s autobiography.
Escape by Carolyn Jessop – A non-fiction book described by Amazon as “the dramatic first-person account of life inside an ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, and one woman’s courageous flight to freedom with her eight children.â€
Speaking on a personal level, I’ve never been tempted to go on a journey of self-discovery or to Afghanistan. I can’t play the guitar, have never been addicted to heroin or alcohol, and I’ve never been forced into a polygamous marriage. I’m sure I could read all of these books and take some sort of meaning from all of them, but the long and the short of it is that I’ve never experienced any of these things personally and it’s doubtful that I ever will. My goal if I were going to read these books? To escape into the world that the author portrays. To lose myself in the story. To let the author take me on an unforgettable journey. If that isn’t “escape,†what is?
The joy in reading almost anything is that it allows the reader to travel outside of themselves. To experience the world at large without having to physically go to a war zone, learn a musical instrument, become an alcoholic or drug addict, enter into a polygamist union or even get on an airplane. We can do all of that just by picking up the right book. Escapism is there for all readers, regardless of what section of the bookstore or library they like to frequent. It also takes away the argument from those determined to paint one faction of readers with a very wide brush.
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Amen!!! “There is no frigate like a book.”
You know what? I read romance for the same reason I read everything else (and I mean everything!). Because I like it. Because it’s FUN. And if that makes me an anti-intellectual bimbo of the people, then roll out the beer and pretzels, cause those of us who like things that are fun are having a damn sight better time in this vale of tears than them as will only read (or see) things that someone else has deemed valuable. Je t’aime la vie en rose!
I used to be one of those people who only read politically inspired books, government horrors and expose`, or books written with sarcastic and snarky attitudes disguised as critique and commentary.
And you know what? I was miserable. And I wanted everyone else to be miserable too. I took things way too seriously. Felt like anyone who was happy or comfy had to be a half-wit who had no clue what was going on in the world.
Now I realize that I was the half-wit. I was the clueless one. My misery wasn’t doing the world any good. I was just contributing to the horrible mess by skulking around moaning and groaning all the time.
I think the issue might have more to do with romance being fiction written for women by women but that’s a whole other post.
Regardless we’re never going to convince the detractors.
Ya can’t sell something to someone with no interest in buying.
I’d rather focus on the readers who LOVE romance and making them feel extra special (give them that warm feeling that comes with reading romance).
*LOL* Actually I played guitar. (I posted pics of the 13 guitars I’ve had in the past in my blog.) It was a form of escapism for me when I was younger. But as I grew, well, my guitar and I “divorced,” and now books have become my main form of escapism.
I’m not interested in reading depressing books, or those based on politics, etc. I have enough of reality at work. I need something that can take far away, where good triumphs over evil.
Beautifully put.
Hi everybody!
I’ve always been interested in the escapist argument when used “against” the romance genre. To me it always struck me as hypocritical, because “escapism” can pretty much describe ALL fiction and a large chunk of non-fiction. I gave up defending the genre to detractors a long time ago, but this is a nice argument to throw back in their face when they sneer at your Nora Roberts while they’re holding the latest Alice Sebold, Khaled Hosseini, or whatever book Oprah is endorsing that month….
Re: Political Books – my older sister reads those too! Not exclusively, but the ones that catch her eye. I think she enjoys being p*ssed off
Isn’t the whole point of reading a novel or even a non-fiction book to escape from your own reality? when you’re writing, don’t you want others to lose themselves in the story you’re telling? if they don’t, then what’s the point?
I don’t see anything wrong with using books for escapism; it always scratches my head when people use that as a criticism. For me, that’s a large part of what reading is for – to experience things vicariously that I would never get to experience in real life. A lot of the time, I wouldn’t actually want those experiences in real life; but I enjoying experiencing them secondhand.
I’m always daydreaming, and I like to look for books that are similar to the daydreams I have. There’s nothing like seeing something from your own imagination made vivid in someone else’s words.
I don’t read very much romance, because I don’t tend to have romance-style daydreams; that type of story isn’t the kind I feel the need to experience vicariously. (I do like reading the occasional romance, though.) But I don’t see anything wrong with people reading romance – and I think it’s bizarre to criticize it because people read it for escapism.
But somehow reading about murders, alternate realities, space travel, aliens, etc. is not “escapism”. *grrrr* Makes me crazy that all other genre fiction seems to have been given a “get out of jail free” card, leaving only romance (by women; for women) left in the pulp ghetto.
Fiction can be a great way to escape the tough realities of life, but it can also be a way of dealing with them (and no, I don’t mean by hiding in a fantasy land). I write romance, and my most recent story is all about a woman dealing with too much on her plate. Without that 100% real problem, there is no story. Sure, I may not be solving the problems of Middle East peace, but for myself and the women I know, being pulled in fifteen different directions is a much more immediate, every-single-day, kind of problem.
If my work can offer one over-worked, stressed out woman a new insight into the situation, then I’ll happily stand up and invite Ann Coulter or any other socio-economic-political commentator to tell me – with a straight face – that my work is any less valid than theirs.
So there.
Tricia Ballad
http://www.TriciaBallad.com
The Perfect Candidate – now available from The Wild Rose Press
http://www.TheWildRosePress.com
A couple of people have suggested that it’s just romance that gets this. Nope, science fiction and fantasy gets the “escapist trash” smear all the time. It’s one of the perpetual grumbles in the sf community. The mystery people get it too. Genre fiction in general. Any fiction that people read for *fun*.
I write erotic cross-genre sf romance. I get it on *three* fronts. But I’m doing do my best to provide my readers with something that will give them value for their hard-earned money, so sod the snobs who want to look down their noses at my books and my readers.
I read for escape as well as for information. Same reason I watch movies and documentaries.
While all genre fiction is marginalized, I think romance receives more scorn than the other areas. For example, Publishers Weekly reviews romance books under the moniker “Mass Market”, but they review sf and mystery under the headers “Science Fiction” and “Mystery”. I’ve heard romance books described as “dirty”, “smutty”, “slutty”, etc. No one uses those words to describe sf or mystery books. And I know of bookstores that have sf and mystery sections but do not carry romance.
My sense is that for romances published since the 70s it’s all about the act of sex. Romances are generally focused on a couple meeting and finding a HEA ending, generally with some physical relationship taking place in the process. It might be intercourse, it might be kissing; women are writing to other women about sex/physical love. And that’s not ok in our patriarchal society.
I agree with Jules–most genre (read: popular) fiction gets maligned. It’s part of the cross we bear
Great post and comparison to NF! I’m glad you’re not a drug addict or in a forced marriage, BTW
And what’s the matter with escapism I say!! I work in the real world 8 hours a day in the health care industry and there in nothing more real than that! I could ‘escape’ into a depressing type book, but why would I want to do that? Life itself can be depressing. And while I don’t notice it as much today as I used to – I do learn a lot from romance. For example! When I saw The Sixth Sense, I knew right from the beginning that he was a ghost. He was shot in the stomach and people rarely survive being gut shot. I learned that from westerns
“Take a little time to escape into another world…”
http://mapoftheworldsoap.blogspot.com
Every time I read a book, I’m escaping the confines of my body and heading into the world of my mind. If it’s a history book, I’m back in time, standing in a corner watching Queen Elizabeth I’s court. If it’s a social sciences book, I’m getting insight into a culture, whether at home or abroad, that’s alien to me. If it’s a child rearing book, I’m getting advice about how to make my home a different (and, I hope, more peaceful) place than it is now. To castigate romances as “escapism” is ridiculous, and I appreciate your defending the books against that silly charge.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Can I carry you around in my pocket so the next time someone asks me when I’m going to write a REAL book, I can just pull you out and let you have at ‘em?? Romance IS real. *sniff* I think I love you