Harlequin Romance: Reading America through Romance Novels

2020/03/26

I never imagined the day would come when I would read "Harlequin Romance."

The reason I, at my age, began reading this romance series was, of course, out of academic necessity. My specialty is the history of American paperback publishing. The industry's peak was in the 1950s, and from the mid-1960s onward, every publisher was struggling. However, Harlequin Romance alone saw a rapid increase in sales starting from that period. Why was a burgeoning romance series published by a small Canadian publisher selling so well in America from the mid-1960s onward? That is the reason I wanted to find out.

So, I tried reading several books in this romance series in a row, and... well, I was shocked. After all, every single one of them had the same plot—namely, a young office worker heroine ends up living under the same roof as an incredibly rich and handsome hero for some reason, and although they do nothing but fight at first, they eventually become attracted to each other, and in the end, the hero proposes! The heroine successfully marries into wealth—it was nothing but such absurd plots. Are adult women really reading such silly love stories with such enthusiasm?

However, this romance series has sold a cumulative total of 6.7 billion copies since its launch in 1949. Surprisingly, there are many female readers around the world who never tire of this kind of Cinderella story, and they continue to buy this series even though they know that every book they read is the same.

So why is that? Why do they never tire of romance novels? What I strove to clarify in my book is precisely this simple "why."

But as the saying goes, "even a dog that walks will hit a pole." While deciphering this romance series for women, which is considered to have no literary value, I caught a glimpse of a female reading culture that is completely different from male reading culture. For those who lean in and ask, "Female reading culture? What's that?", I invite you to give it a read.

Harlequin Romance: Reading America through Romance Novels

Shunsuke Ozaki

Heibonsha Shinsho

252 pages, 880 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and job titles are as of the time of publication.