Skip to content

Ask an Academic

  • Home
  • Ask a Question
  • Contact Us
Art gallery

Characterisation of Romances

September 20, 2019 by AskanAcademic.com

A general discussion of the features of literary romances

Question

How are romances characterised?

Answer

The term ‘romance’ is usually applied to prose fiction from prior to the rise of the novel. Romances are thus usually missing the above elements, and pay liberal attention to various aspects of reality in their narratives. Their focus is often on portraying a grand adventure, or any other succession of dramatic deeds, usually undertaken by aristocratic characters (or, in the ‘blood will tell’ convention, those who are secretly of noble birth), and they often feature magical settings, numinous entities, divine interventions or achievements beyond the bounds of logical possibility. Many romances are also prosimetric, incorporating a mixture of prose and poetry across their text. In terms of overall story structure, it is not uncommon for romances to be episodic, moving from one adventure or conflict to another, rather than the more focused organisation of the plot around central events, characters and themes that developed in the novel. Northrop Frye analyses these and many other romance elements in his book The Secular Scripture: A Study of the Structure of Romance (1976).

An example of romance literature in English is Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (1485). As, even outside Europe, much prose literature of pre-industrial periods features the same characteristics, texts like Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms have been similarly designated as romances when encountered by English literary scholars.

References

Post navigation

Previous Post:

Magical Realism in ‘The Girl Who Chased the Moon’

Next Post:

Creativity and Advertising

Search Q&As

Categories

  • Art Media and Literature (74)
  • Business and Management (256)
  • Computing and ICT (14)
  • Construction and Engineering (35)
  • Education (90)
  • Environmental Sciences (2)
  • Finance and Economics (91)
  • Health (64)
  • Languages (12)
  • Law (88)
  • Mathematics and Statistics (2)
  • Medical Sciences (19)
  • Politics and International Relations (83)
  • Research Methodology (1)
  • Science (49)
  • Social Sciences (101)

Archives

Who We Are

Askanacademic.com is owned and operated by All Answers Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. Company Registration No: 4964706. VAT Registration No: 842417633. Data Controller No: Z1821391.

Registered office:
Venture House
Cross Street
Arnold
Nottingham
NG5 7PJ

Main Navigation

  • Home
  • Ask a Question
  • Contact Us

Legals

  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Popular Categories

  • Business and Management
  • Law
  • Finance and Economics
  • Health
An an Academic Logo
© 2023 Ask an Academic | WordPress Theme by Superb Themes
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Reject
Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT