The History of Women & Romance Literature

About this event

Explore how feminism reshaped romance literature, from mythic love stories to the novels and films we know today. Followed by Q&A. Orpheus and Eurydice. Tristan and Isolde. Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot. Myth gave romance literature many of its most familiar plots – chivalric quests, unrequited love, doomed lovers and tragic love triangles. As women fought for recognition and rights, these stories began to mean something new. In this workshop, Maisha Wester traces the relationship between feminism and romance literature, from Wollstonecraft, Austen and the Brontë sisters to Daphne du Maurier and Angela Carter. We’ll explore how ideas about love changed even before women's suffrage, and how women writers and scholars reshaped romance in fiction and film. Learn how familiar romantic plots draw on myth and shift alongside ideas about women's rights Trace the evolution of romance writing from Mary Wollstonecraft and Jane Austen to Daphne du Maurier and Angela Carter Discover how gender, independence, work, family and sexuality influenced romantic storytelling Gain insight into how women writers and scholars reshaped familiar plots in fiction and film Dr Maisha Wester is an Associate Professor and a recent British Academy Global Professor. Her interests focus on social oppression in Gothic Literature and Horror Film. Her books and numerous essays include "Torture Porn and Uneasy Feminisms: Re-thinking (Wo)men in Eli Roth's Hostel Films" and African American Gothic in the Era of Black Lives Matter. Most recently, she created and released a narrative-driven social justice video game for PC titled Coded Black. Her teaching includes courses on Black Feminist literature, racial representations in Gothic Literature and Horror Film, and gender in contemporary Horror Film.