Voice, justice and repopulation of history in queer historical romance novels
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | Thanks to the self-publishing revolution allowing authors an accessible means of reaching the audience, the 21st century saw a rapid increase in the number of published queer historical romance novels. This in turn contributed to growing diversity of representation and positively influenced the number of novels published by traditional publishers in recent years. Queer historical romance novels, i.e. a (sub)genre which is defined by the requirement of an optimistic and emotionally satisfying ending, intentionally repopulate history with marginalized voices which have been either missing in or villanized by the predominant narrative, discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexuality, class or ethnicity. Although liberties are sometimes taken with the adaptation of history for the genre, many authors of queer historical romance conduct extensive research to portray both settings and characters as truthfully as possible. Through the analysis of novels by Harper Fox and KJ Charles, this presentation will examine the themes of excavating and righting the past, of silenced and regained voices, and of (in)justice, which are strongly and purposefully present in queer historical romance narrative. |
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