Abstracts
Abstract
“Mills & Boon” has become shorthand for “trashy” entertainment, yet little is known about how the books are treated materially in their circulation. This article reports on a project that followed the material lives and afterlives of 50 Australian-authored novels published by Harlequin Mills & Boon between 1996 and 2016. We analyze visual and textual data about these books collected via social media to explore uses and values attached to category romance. First, we show that the books’ ongoing circulation is due both to their publishers’ practices, and to the behaviours of genre insiders. Second, we note that most participants demonstrated “genre competence” and genre-based sociality, confirming the highly networked nature of the romance “genre world.” Third, we find that category romance is routinely shelved apart from other books, explicitly marking them as distinctive. Finally, we argue that “shelfies” of romance collections undercut notions of trash by reframing them as treasure.
Keywords:
- Popular romance fiction,
- shelfies,
- Harlequin,
- Mills & Boon,
- social media
Résumé
La maison « Mills & Boon » est synonyme de plaisir coupable, mais on en sait fort peu sur ce qui caractérise le traitement de ses livres sur le plan matériel. Le présent article décrit un projet qui a retracé « la vie » (dans leur incarnation matérielle et au-delà) de cinquante romans d’autrices australiennes publiés par Harlequin Mills & Boon de 1996 à 2016. L’analyse de données visuelles et textuelles recueillies sur les réseaux sociaux nous permet d’explorer les usages et les valeurs associés au genre du roman d’amour. Nous montrons que la circulation des livres est attribuable à la fois aux pratiques de l’éditeur et au comportement des adeptes du genre. L’univers du roman d’amour s’appuie sur des réseaux raffinés, la plupart des intervenants se caractérisant par leur « compétence de genre » et par la socialité qui y est associée. Par ailleurs, nous notons que les romans d’amour se retrouvent rarement sur les mêmes rayons que les autres romans, ce qui en soi les rend distincts. Enfin, nous soutenons que les photos de collections de romans d’amour diffusées sur les réseaux sociaux incitent à recadrer la perception : les plaisirs coupables prennent dorénavant valeur de trésors.
Mots-clés :
- Romans d’amour,
- “shelfies”,
- Harlequin,
- Mills & Boon,
- réseaux sociaux
Appendices
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