Queering the romance: an exploration of queerness in popular twenty-first century romance novels

Hargrave, Lucy Elizabeth (2025). Queering the romance: an exploration of queerness in popular twenty-first century romance novels. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis is the first in-depth look at the queer romance genre that examines the genre from its evolution in the twentieth-century to the genre it is today in the twenty-first century. Namely, it looks at the publishing ecosystem that surrounds queer romances, the portrayal of bodies in queer romances, the Happily Ever After (HEA) in queer romances and how the community of readers and authors perceive the genre’s engagement with LGBTQ+ activism.
It uses the genre worlds method that was first applied to the romance genre by Lisa Fletcher, Beth Driscoll and Kim Wilkins in 2018 in their study about Australian romances. As part of this it incorporates data from surveys and focus groups with readers and writers, data gathered on traditionally published queer romances and publicly available information on queer romance novel authors. It argues that the queer romance genre has a dual literary heritage of LGBTQ+ fiction and the popular romance genre. As a result this is a genre that is balancing the commercial viability of the popular romance genre with the needs of its LGBTQ+ community.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):