A few of my lovers are avid readers of romance novels. One day, I decided to read a few to see what the fuss was all about. I quickly discovered that libertines figure frequently in romance fiction, particularly in the historical romance subgenre and what is known as the "steamy" category. The basic theme of such novels is loosely "Good Girl Tames Bad Boy".
The male character, variously described as a "libertine", "rake", "rogue", or "scoundrel", is usually in his late 20s to late 30s, has never been married, and lives a sexually unrestrained lifestyle, having many lovers. The female character is almost always a virgin, ranging in age from late teens to around 30. There are some exceptions to this, there are some "ruined" females, that is, one who has had sex at least once, usually several years before, but who is now paying for her "mistake" with the prospect of lifelong spinsterhood. A few novels feature widows, usually in dire financial straits. In one novel by Susan Johnson (who writes excellent sex scenes, by the way), there is a woman in her late 20s who could just about be described as a libertine herself, having had lovers without the expectation of marriage.
A typical theme of such novels is that the couple meets, usually with the male helping the woman out of one type of scrape or another. The male is captivated at once by this woman, while simultaneously being irritated by her. The woman is attracted immediately as well, though many times will try to deny it for half the book. His "bad boy" aura draws her like a moth to a flame, but the good girl in her feels as if she "shouldn't" be attracted to someone like that. But as she gets to know him and realizes he's a lot more interesting, alive, and fun than the men she's known previously, she gives in to him, sometimes sooner, sometimes later.
In some instances, the male character remains an active, unrepentant libertine almost to the end of the novel. But more often, almost as soon as the man meets the woman, he suddenly loses interest in his libertine lifestyle, all because he can't get this woman out of his mind and that she's totally different from any other woman he's ever known. He will either immediately become celibate or faithful to the new woman, if they've had sex earlier, rather than later. Another common running theme in some novels, particularly those by Cheryl Holt (who also writes excellent sex scenes), is that the man is a libertine because of some type of psychological damage as a child, that he is really "good", but his libertinism is a defense mechanism in response to his unfortunate childhood. Oh please, spare me the psychobabble!
Regardless of variations in plot, the endings are always the same, without exception. The man loses all interest in continuing his libertine lifestyle and suddenly realizes that all he ever wanted, after all, was a conventional, monogamous marriage, like "everyone else". The characters get married and have a completely conventional marriage, from that moment forward. Now, there's nothing wrong with this ending on occasion, but it's trite, tiresome, and unrealistic to have it every time. Predictability is boring. Considering that the reason that the woman was attracted to the man in the first place was precisely because he was a "bad boy", having him turn into a domesticated male like the ones who had bored her in the past would tend not to bode well for their future relationship.
In the Susan Johnson novel, "Seduction in Mind", which had the rare combination of a sexually experienced female with a libertine male, I'd had hopes that it would end differently, with a more unconventional relationship. As Johnson had avoided the tiresome cliche of virgin female paired with a psychologically tortured male libertine, I'd thought that this book might be different. But no, it ended as all the others did. Sigh. This was especially disappointing, because Johnson's books are otherwise a cut above most such books of this genre, in that she's done extensive research to get the historical details correct; her books come complete with footnotes detailing her research.
I'm suspecting that one big reason why these books always end the same way is that publishers have decided that their female readers want them to end this way. This is no doubt true in most cases, but I'm sure many readers would also like to see novels with less predictable endings. But considering that the sacred cow of monogamy runs deep through every facet of our culture, I doubt readers will see anything different in romance fiction any time soon.
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