Janice A. Radway, Cultural and Feminist Literary Theorist
Janice Radway, Professor of Literature at Duke
University, has a Ph.D. in English and American Studies, Michigan State
University, 1977. Before coming to Duke, she taught in the American
Civilization Department at the University of Pennsylvania, where she also
served as editor of the American Quarterly. She is the author of the 1984 Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and
Popular Literature, her best-known literary contribution, and of A Feeling for Books: The Book- of-the-Month
Club, Literary Taste, and Middle Class Desire, along with numerous
scholarly articles.
Ms. Radway’s research interests are the history of
literacy and reading in the United States and Britain, particularly as they relate
to the lives of women, along with a history in American Studies: An Anthology, published by Blackwell Publishers. She is Past President of the American Studies
Association. Radway is presently working on a book entitled Girls, Zines, and
their Afterlives: Sex, Gender, Capitalism, and Everyday Life in the Nineties
and Beyond.
Chronological Timeline of Major Texts
- 1984: Reading the Romance
- 1999: A Feeling for Books
- 2008: A History of the Book in America (co-edited).
- 2009: American Studies: An Anthology (co-edited).
Janice
Radway’s Contributions to Literary Theory
Janice
Radway is a cultural studies and feminist literary theorist and Professor of
Literature at Duke University. As a
teacher and cultural researcher, her interests include the history of texts and
their production, along with the history of reading and consumer culture as
they relate to the lives of women. Her
life’s work and studies focus on the role of women in society and literature, particularly
women who read romance novels and why they read them. As a cultural theorist, she is particularly
interested in who buys texts and how they are distributed, particularly romance
novels aforementioned. She is the author
of numerous books and scholarly articles, and is best- known for her 1984 study
of the American romance novel and its readers, Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature, which
demonstrates “the textual effects of the publishing industry’s decisions about
books that will minimize its financial risks” (Guerin et al 308). Because of her literary contributions, especially
the study mentioned, she is considered one of cultural
studies greatest leaders.
Reading the Romance
is a study in the relationship between audiences and texts. Disturbed by the preoccupation with Formalist
criticism, Radway’s research and the book tackles difficult questions, such as “what
can a literary text be taken as evidence for?” (Seiler). Focusing on the ethnographies of reading, the
book asks questions like “what a (romance) book means to a given audience” ( Seiler
). In the study, Ms. Radway deals with
literary production and consumption as complex, social processes, and a book’s
meaning as related to social events. What
she discovered is that the female romance reader reads as a way of “temporarily
refusing the demands associated with her role of wife and mother, a declaration
of independence” (Seiler), instead of just reading for pleasure or sex. The act of reading romance is an imagination
in “peace, security, and ease precisely because it sees dissention, insecurity,
and difficulty” (Seiler). A video clip
is attached which brilliantly illustrates Ms. Radway’s findings: Why Women Read Romance According to Radway
Elaine Balliet.
Cited
Guerin, Wilfred L., et al. A Handbook of
Critical Approaches to Literature. 6th ed. New York: Oxford, 2011. 308.
Print.
Seiler, Robert M., PhD. Janice A.
Radway, Reading Reading the Romance.
University of Calgary. n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2013.
Excerpt
from Reading the Romance, by Janice A. Radway:
“I
suspect a demand for real change in power relations will occur only if women
... come to understand that their need for romances is a function of their
dependent status as women and of their acceptance of marriage as the only route
to female fulfillment. I think we as feminists might help this change along by
first learning to recognize that romance reading originates in very real
dissatisfaction and embodies a valid, if limited, protest. Then by developing
strategies for making that dissatisfaction and its causes consciously available
to romance readers and by learning how to encourage that protest in such a way
that it will be delivered in the arena of actual social relations rather than acted
out in the imagination, we might join hands with women who are, after all, our
sisters and together imagine a world whose subsequent creation would lead to
the need for a new fantasy altogether.”
My Comments on this excerpt: What it means and why it is important.
The above excerpt from Reading the Romance” by Janice Radway, explains the difficulties faced by today’s women via their dependent status as wives and mothers, and the reasons behind why they read romances. To understand fully what Ms. Radway refers to in her research, writings, and the above excerpt, view the video or video link attached to see Ms. Radway’s study in action. Women read romance because they are dissatisfied by the constriction, demands and gender roles assigned them, especially women in a failing marriage, and or an abusive or otherwise unsatisfactory marriage or other submissive relationship. Women turn to romance texts as an imaginatory outlet, a significant problem beyond the simple act of reading which needs to be addressed in order for relationships and social relations to improve for the better. In order to change these problems within society and the family matrix, Ms. Radway is proposing that readers of romance need to know the reasons behind why they turn to the texts. Then, and only then, once there is individual and societal understanding, can improvement begin. Ms. Radway’s study and proposal is important because it is necessary for women and society to understand these problems before change can begin.
My Comments on this excerpt: What it means and why it is important.
The above excerpt from Reading the Romance” by Janice Radway, explains the difficulties faced by today’s women via their dependent status as wives and mothers, and the reasons behind why they read romances. To understand fully what Ms. Radway refers to in her research, writings, and the above excerpt, view the video or video link attached to see Ms. Radway’s study in action. Women read romance because they are dissatisfied by the constriction, demands and gender roles assigned them, especially women in a failing marriage, and or an abusive or otherwise unsatisfactory marriage or other submissive relationship. Women turn to romance texts as an imaginatory outlet, a significant problem beyond the simple act of reading which needs to be addressed in order for relationships and social relations to improve for the better. In order to change these problems within society and the family matrix, Ms. Radway is proposing that readers of romance need to know the reasons behind why they turn to the texts. Then, and only then, once there is individual and societal understanding, can improvement begin. Ms. Radway’s study and proposal is important because it is necessary for women and society to understand these problems before change can begin.
My
Reaction to Ms. Radway’s Ideas
I
agree with Ms. Radway’s findings that women read romances for other reasons
than pleasure and that society and women’s personal lives and gender roles will
benefit from the why’s behind why they are reading. From my personal observations, the women I
know who read the romance texts that Ms. Radway refers to- Harlequin, Avon,
etc., are women who either do not have a spouse or are unhappy in their
marriages, which is in agreement with Ms. Radway’s study and findings. Romance reading is an escape, an imagination.
Ms. Radway’s study also addresses the reasons behind the production of
these texts, and how publishers influence what we read and purchase. I absolutely agree with this. Ms. Radway theorizes modern romance reading
as an institutional and business style/three way matrix, in which production is
determined by the publishing industry, reader’s choice and pleasure, and the writer,”
which I agree with ( Editor’s Introduction).
I
think that Ms. Radway is correct that in order for improvement and or change to
take place, that women need to be educated on why they are choosing romance
texts. I also believe that many women
are probably already aware of this fact, but probably not of all the work that
takes place behind the text and act of reading, such as the publisher and
production. It is important for women to
choose romance reading for pleasure, not because society and the publishing
industry is pushing it. Romance texts
make money, which is in line with Marxism and his belief that we are all
subjects of the bourgeois, which I agree with.
In her study, Ms. Radway makes note that, according to Harlequin, its
romance readers are in the age category of 25-45, which goes along with her
theory that the majority of women who read these texts are women in marriages
with children.
As a writer and author
myself who has published a romance text, I know how publishers push writers to
write to a certain style and guidelines, and that the publishers of these
romance texts will not publish any text that is not in agreement with their
standards, like book length (short, usually about 200-250 pages), a handsome alpha
male hero, and a doting female who desires him.
The plot must also follow a certain action and resolution. Because of this, I believe that it is the
publishing industry that is more at fault than the writer as to what books are
published for a reader’s enjoyment, because the writer is only following the guidelines
that the publishers set. Many writers
want to publish to these guidelines, but I do not. When I was ready to publish Eight Days to Shanghai, my romantic
adventure, I decided to go with a small press, Bluewater Press, because I had purposely
not written to Harlequin’s or Avon’s guidelines. This said, like Ms. Radway, I agree that
knowledge of the publishing industry and why certain genres and styles are
pushed can only help individual women and society for the better.
Even though I am an author
and writer with a college education, my knowledge was broadened from Ms. Radway’s
research, theories, and findings. I had
actually given no thought to the whys behind why women read romances until I
researched Ms. Radway and her studies.
While reading in and of itself seems to be a simple process, it is
not. People read for a reason, there is
a decision process which goes into the purchase of each text, and the
publishing industry is all about making money.
It is a fact that women are the ones who are reading, as women readers
make up the majority of books purchased.
It is a fascinating and exciting concept; one that I believe is
attainable, if we address these issues that Ms. Radway proposes. Literature can change the future; it should
change it for the better, and women need to be at the forefront of and involved
in the process.
Elaine.
Cited
Radway,
Janice A. Reading the Romance, 1984. Editor’s
Introduction. 2009/2010. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.
http://sachafrey.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/the-institutional-matrix-of-romance-ss330.pdf
Sources
for Further Research:
Goldring Symposium: New Trends in Popular Culture -
Gender and Race in Contemporary America:
University of Michigan. Appearance
by Janice Radway: 03/14/2013.
Reception: Texts,
Readers, Audiences, History:
Ildiko Olasz and M. Genevieve West, 2012.
Encyclopedia of Gender in Media: Karen Pitcher. ed. Mary Kosut, 2012.
An Interview with Janice Radway: L Glass, 2008.
Women, Feminism and Media: Sue Thornham, 2007. Pg 56-58.
Janice Radway, Expert on Romance Novels and Literary
Taste,
to Deliver Annual Pforzheimer Lecture: Harry Ransom Center, 2001.
to Deliver Annual Pforzheimer Lecture: Harry Ransom Center, 2001.
People/Janice Radway: A Feeling for Books. Bob Bao, 1998.
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