#mastering romance

[msfehrwight]

La la la la la this paper has about 3,000 words by now and my thoughts are starting to get jumbled again because apparently 3–4 hours of work is about as much as I can do on scholarly stuff per day. And it’s sort of like I start having so many thoughts and they all try to come out at once and by the time I get a couple of them down the others have given up and gone home.

But tbh, I could probably write an entire paper on just Only Enchanting. Like, it wouldn’t even be HARD. I think I may have taken a bite bigger than can be swallowed in a paper of this scope...

[msfehrwight]

New topics I would like to think about more and write papers on:

1) The use the word “only” in Balogh (eg. in The Famous Heroine Cora often refers to Francis is as “only Francis” or “just Francis”, and Francis says things like “Only you, Cora!”; also see titles Only Enchanting, Only A Promise, Only A Kiss, Only Beloved)

2) Nature in Balogh; the Romantic notion of God in nature; gardens and countryside; note especially that the characters often find peace in the country or long to be there, London usually not important (again, see Only A Promise where London is a central issue, @romancingthebookworm you’ll find this super interesting when you get there <3)

3) Romance in Golden Age Finnish cinema. Seriously guys, I wish they subtitled the movies and made them more easily available because this stuff is brilliant. Excellent heroines! Some unfortunate messages, of course, this being ca. 1950s, but such great movies and heroines who do what they like! 

[msfehrwight]

Woooooo nelly seeing people talk romance first thing (well almost) in the morning sure has made me chipper and excited

Off to uni to finally take notes on that final chapter of Happily Ever After and ponder about the nature of love and stuff!

(Love studies is so fascinating guys. If anyone knows good books, basic works, on it, I’d love to hear about them! I’ve already got Lewis’s Allegory of Love and bell hooks on my list!)

[msfehrwight]

Some things I would like to get more into and write essays about:

1. Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal, and possible other books in the series, in how they use Austen. (You may remember that I wrote about a particular quote in this book, prompted by someone commenting that the title of the novel was “boring”.) Perhaps even examine it as an adaptation? (Except “appropriation” would probably be a better word here.)

2. Lady Bridget’s Diary by Maya Rodale. ALL THE THINGS. Like, can we talk about all the layers of intertextuality and reference that requires you to have a pretty thorough basic knowledge and understanding of popular culture, especially that aimed at women? It’s marvellous – and then there’s the fact that not in a million years would I go and call it an adaptation or retelling or anything like that. Despite the copious references, it’s an independent work. It is a marvel.

3. HEA in Austen and Thackeray’s Vanity Fair – IS it really HEA? If you look at wordings in especially Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park, as well as Vanity Fair, the happiness of the ending is actually not certain. Happy for whom? Is it happy for anyone, really? Intriguing question, and something that gets overlooked in adaptation quite a lot!

4. Willoughby. Yes, I still want to work on adaptation Willoughbys.

So idk. PCA CFP is open from July 1st to October 1st, and I need to get a proposal together, the sooner the better so I can start working on the paper. And I don’t think I want to do any of this for it. HNNNGH.

[msfehrwight]

*reads through chapter on female agency in Dark Angel, Lord Carew’s Bride and The Famous Heroine in preparation for writing an abstract*

Gosh darn this sounds much more intelligent than I remember! Well done self. This is actually surprisingly good analysis.

[msfehrwight]

@smackledawbed asked how my presentation went, and since A) tumblr app doesn't offer the option to answer to asks privately and B ) other people might be curious as well, I'm going to tell you briefly in this here post. Presentation went really well! I was nervous, and from the footage @romancingthebookworm took and I've seen without sound I would say that manifested in gesturing and getting a little breathless, but that didn't seem to bother anyone. I got a couple of questions in the questions section that my brain refused to process in the aftermath, but I managed to acquit myself okay. I think. Generally the reception was really good and both Jess and I - the Bright Young Things and Total Noobs, aka The Akward Darcies With Shrimp - got good feedback from people throughout the week. I will also report with great glee and excitement that the last time we checked the paper table, only four of the ten copies of my paper that I brought remained! So yes. Very good. What have I learned? First of all, the atmosphere was so casual. I definitely stressed too much. Also, the romance peeps are wonderful people who want you to he successful and to embrace you. And they are huge nerds, too, which will probably never cease to delight me. I'm already looking forward to next year's conference, and I'm going to submit a proposal to a women's studies symposium in the UK next summer. As much as I'd like to do IASPR conference, no chance this year, but hopefully plans go through and it's in Europe next year! Good experience. All I lack is experience.

[msfehrwight]

Two and a half hours later, and I’ve got a first draft of presentations + have talked it through once (very slowly and with lots of ‘ummm’).

[msfehrwight]

I’ve handed in all the paperwork, and therefore my life as a graduate student is over. I’m now going to strip my thesis books of flags, apart from those that might still be useful in writing my presentation paper.

Dark Angel Lord Carew’s Bride The Famous Heroine (and the unflagged Plumed Bonnet) all by Mary Balogh