Tuesday, May 3, 2005

Smut! Smut! Smut!

I found the following charming article via
Wendy's blog. Ugh. I've rarely read a more condescending, snobbish article. It purports to "suggest" a few romances while deriding the genre (and chick lit, too) as "smut," "trash," and "bodice rippers." Nice. The author is trying to present herself as a regular reader of romance, but she says that one author she recommends "tends to refrain from any actual bodice-ripping," suggesting that she thinks rape still occurs on a regular basis in romance. One wonders what she's been reading.

Here's the line that really aggravated me: "Ah, Lisa Kleypas: a perfect role model for anyone who wants to throw away a prestigious college diploma in the name of romance. After graduating from Wellesley with a degree in political science, Kleypas sold her first romance novel and apparently never looked back."

Excuuuuse me? In what way is writing romances "throwing away" a college diploma? So what if she's not working in a field that utilizes her political science diploma (although as an author of historical romance, she may well be drawing on that background)? I majored in history and wound up working in insurance. Plenty of people don't work in the field they majored in, but no one takes nasty little potshots at them. As I said elsewhere yesterday, writing is a CAREER, just like any other career. Kleypas hits bestseller lists on a regular basis and is presumably making a living at it, which is more than a lot of us can say. How the hell is this "throwing away" a diploma??

Growl. Rant over.

4 comments:

  1. Could that article have been worse? Can you imagine what the writer of it would have said if she didn't claim to like romance?

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  2. It was really worse because she DID claim to like romance. I can't stand people who admit they read romance but ridicule it anyway. Thanks for the link-- it started my day off with a nice dose of righteous indignation!

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  3. Ellen, I've come to the realization that it does no good to even get upset by such articles. Overly judgmental people never see themselves as such. They think that they're fair, just and stating things with great common sense. I think I've also reached the point where I don't give a donkey's patoot what other people think of romance. I'm more than happy to agree with the over 51 million true romance lovers. *g*

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  4. Oh, well, every now and then I ENJOY getting annoyed, Mary. It gives me an opportunity to rant, which I don't do too often:-).

    But you're right; there's no real point in worrying about people who don't like romance. There are a whole lotta readers who do love romance out there!

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