Last class, plus surprise appearance by Fabio.
Historical Romance thrives at Yale
Let me commence with with the quotation I swiped from the syllabus for "Reading Historical Romance, " taught by authors
and Andrea DaRif (w/a
):
“Although our [novels] have afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary corporation in the world, no species of composition has been so much decried. From pride, ignorance, or fashion, our foes are as many as our readers….”
-- Jane Austen,
(1818)
I'm happy to report that while this continues to be true, at least 18 Yale students have a different point of view. I was one of a panel invited to be interrogated by these students earlier in the week. (L-R: Lauren, Carrie Ferron of HarperCollins, Andrea, SB Sarah of
, and me.)
These students are taking a course titled "Reading the Historical Romance"--a class I mentioned in a
, whose required reading included, among other historical romances, my own
. Their thoughtful questions made me wish I'd been sitting in on all the classes. It also made me wish we'd had more time to talk. Our two-hour class was much too short.
Thank you, students, Andrea & Lauren, for a truly memorable day.
Mr. Impossible goes to Yale
called my attention to
.
I know that for some people, all romance novels are "silly novels by lady novelists."
But I don't care what they say because I'm on a reading list at Yale. Authors
and
are teaching a course called "Reading the Historical Romance"— and my very own
is Required Reading! Which is kind of funny, considering that the hero Rupert is...erm...well, no Einstein. But there he is, in the hallowed halls of academe.
That's Lauren on the left and Cara on the right. And if various schedules can be made to mesh, I'll be meeting their students next month.