cfp.english.upenn.edu

A New Generation of Readers: Romance Novels Through the Internet Age

We are currently soliciting contributions for a peer-reviewed edited collection tentatively titled, A New Generation of Readers: Romance Novels Through the Internet Age. The essays in this collection will focus on the often sophisticated engagement of internet literacy in romance fan communities. Using Janice Radway’s work as an historical baseline, the collection seeks to discuss the ins and outs of communities and their memberships. The collection will examine trends in modern romance consumption as influenced by internet community building featured in sites such as the popular romance blog, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, or the more generalized book community, Goodreads, among others. It will also discuss the function of these communities to the readers and writers.

We encourage interdisciplinary critical contributions which focus on contemporary romance, their readers, and community formation. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to:
• Function of romance blogs and publication trends
• Post-modern narrative and genre trends (paranormal, urban fantasy, geek romance, erotic, etc.)
• Amazon.com Recommends, Borders Recommends, etc. – how readers are instructed to buy books
• Why read - Escapism vs. Identification
• Discourse practices of virtual romance communities
• Romance community scholarship – gender studies, reader response, economic theory

Please send an abstract of 300-500 words and a very brief biography to the editors, Nicole Pfannenstiel and Michelle Iwen, at IwenME@cardiff.ac.uk and niki@asu.edu. Abstracts are due by November 1, 2010 and completed papers will tentatively be due May 2011.