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The desert-governess romance : Regency England meets exotic Arabia

Turner, Ellen LU and Wadsö-Lecaros, Cecilia LU orcid (2022) In Lund Journal of English Studies 4. p.1-24
Abstract
In this article we discuss how two types of popular romances – the desert romance and the governess romance – have blended into what we refer to as the desert-governess romance. In the world of romance, the governess and the sheikh may be an odd couple but they do make good bedfellows. Etymologically speaking, the governess (“A woman who holds or exercises authority” (OED)) is the perfect love match for the tribal governor who rules with steely resolve. In this paper we direct our attention to genre blending in order to explore the binary of captivity and escape. We look at a number of texts identified as archetypical desert-governess romances. What emerges from this analysis is that the initially disparate genres of the governess romance... (More)
In this article we discuss how two types of popular romances – the desert romance and the governess romance – have blended into what we refer to as the desert-governess romance. In the world of romance, the governess and the sheikh may be an odd couple but they do make good bedfellows. Etymologically speaking, the governess (“A woman who holds or exercises authority” (OED)) is the perfect love match for the tribal governor who rules with steely resolve. In this paper we direct our attention to genre blending in order to explore the binary of captivity and escape. We look at a number of texts identified as archetypical desert-governess romances. What emerges from this analysis is that the initially disparate genres of the governess romance and the desert romance share surprising commonalities, not least with regard to the dual forms of escape offered by the fusion of the historical backdrop (typically Regency) and the geographical space of the desert. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
In this article we discuss how two types of popular romances – the desert romance and the governess romance – have blended into what we refer to as the desert-governess romance. In the world of romance, the governess and the sheikh may be an odd couple but they do make good bedfellows. Etymologically speaking, the governess (“A woman who holds or exercises authority” (OED)) is the perfect love match for the tribal governor who rules with steely resolve. In this paper we direct our attention to genre blending in order to explore the binary of captivity and escape. We look at a number of texts identified as archetypical desert-governess romances. What emerges from this analysis is that the initially disparate genres of the governess romance... (More)
In this article we discuss how two types of popular romances – the desert romance and the governess romance – have blended into what we refer to as the desert-governess romance. In the world of romance, the governess and the sheikh may be an odd couple but they do make good bedfellows. Etymologically speaking, the governess (“A woman who holds or exercises authority” (OED)) is the perfect love match for the tribal governor who rules with steely resolve. In this paper we direct our attention to genre blending in order to explore the binary of captivity and escape. We look at a number of texts identified as archetypical desert-governess romances. What emerges from this analysis is that the initially disparate genres of the governess romance and the desert romance share surprising commonalities, not least with regard to the dual forms of escape offered by the fusion of the historical backdrop (typically Regency) and the geographical space of the desert. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
desert romance, governess romance, popular romance novel, education, romance
in
Lund Journal of English Studies
volume
4
pages
24 pages
ISSN
2003-7597
DOI
10.48148/ljes.v4i.24863
project
Teaching and learning in popular genre fiction
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e80bd384-1693-44be-a454-0d273837cbf6
date added to LUP
2022-12-19 11:09:27
date last changed
2022-12-20 15:50:54
@article{e80bd384-1693-44be-a454-0d273837cbf6,
  abstract     = {{In this article we discuss how two types of popular romances – the desert romance and the governess romance – have blended into what we refer to as the desert-governess romance. In the world of romance, the governess and the sheikh may be an odd couple but they do make good bedfellows. Etymologically speaking, the governess (“A woman who holds or exercises authority” (OED)) is the perfect love match for the tribal governor who rules with steely resolve. In this paper we direct our attention to genre blending in order to explore the binary of captivity and escape. We look at a number of texts identified as archetypical desert-governess romances. What emerges from this analysis is that the initially disparate genres of the governess romance and the desert romance share surprising commonalities, not least with regard to the dual forms of escape offered by the fusion of the historical backdrop (typically Regency) and the geographical space of the desert.}},
  author       = {{Turner, Ellen and Wadsö-Lecaros, Cecilia}},
  issn         = {{2003-7597}},
  keywords     = {{desert romance; governess romance; popular romance novel; education; romance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  pages        = {{1--24}},
  series       = {{Lund Journal of English Studies}},
  title        = {{The desert-governess romance : Regency England meets exotic Arabia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.48148/ljes.v4i.24863}},
  doi          = {{10.48148/ljes.v4i.24863}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}