230544 British Cross-Class Romance (S) (SoSe 2023)

Romance, as a genre, was invented in the Middle Ages; and from the beginning a defining feature of it was the barrier between the lovers. The whole point of romance is that the happy ending is achieved only after considerable effort and suffering: "How will they break down the barriers?" is the romantic equivalent of "Whodunit?" in crime fiction. However, there is a key difference here between how romantic love was imagined in medieval romance versus modern romance. In medieval romance, the male protagonist was responsible for breaking down the barrier in order to claim the female protagonist. In modern romance, where both protagonists are imbued with agency, it is the responsibility of the individuals to overcome their own barriers before they can meet on the ground where the wall once stood, declare their love and live happily ever after. (Adapted from https://historiesofemotion.com/2018/02/14/breaking-down-the-barriers-love-and-walls/)

There is no barrier more powerful in British culture than barriers of social class. This goes beyond the fairy-tale narrative of Cinderella being chosen by the Prince. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy actually belong to the same estate, the gentry, but most of the characters in the novel behave as if she was a kitchen maid and he was a royal duke. The smallest social distinctions (Yes, the mighty shade of Pierre Bourdieu will be hovering over this whole seminar!) have huge implications. How have the fears and fantasies that inform cross-class romance changed since the eighteenth century? Does the romance genre have a conservative or a progressive or even subversive impact on ideas of class? Is romance fiction just yet another way to foist middle-class ideologies onto lower-class characters (and readers)?

Requirements for participation, required level

You should have completed all three courses in BM2 (Literary and Cultural Studies) so that you have a foundation in literary analysis and interpretation.

Bibliography

PLEASE READ THE WIKIPEDIA or GOODREADS ENTRIES ON ALL OF THESE NOVELS and FILMS. (THIS WAS YOUR CONTENT WARNING.)
Definitely:
- extracts from Samuel Richardson, Pamela (1740)
- E. M. Forster, Maurice (1914/1970) [Published only after Forster's death, because he didn't want to publish a novel about gay lovers in his life time.]
- D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover, 1928. Lady Chatterley gets an extra CW: Like all writers in the 1920s, Lawrence has views on sex, gender and race that are repugnant to us today. There is also, in both versions, a character in a wheelchair (after being wounded in WW1). Although DHL is more sympathetic to this character in the first version than in the third version, there are remarks on physical disability that to us sound callous. Try not to be offended by this and read this as a historical piece of writing.
- Gosford Park, written by Julian Fellows and directed by Robert Altman, 2001
- Love Actually, written and directed by Richard Curtis, 2003

To be decided:
Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, 1854/55
G. B. Shaw, Pygmalion, 1913/14 and the re-working of the material by Judith Ivory, The Proposition, 1999 (Shaw was furious when the musical version of the play, My Fair Lady, tampered with the ending to suggest that Prof. Higgins and Eliza might stay together. Most romance novels that have recycled the plot DO give the novel a happy ending.)