Publications

Books

Pérez-Fernández, Irene and Pérez-Ríu, Carmen eds 2021: Romantic Escapes: Post-Millennial Trends in Contemporary Popular Romance Fiction. Bern: Peter Lang.

Romance continues to stand as the most profitable literary genre and the second most read book category. The developments reshaping the conventions and marketing practices of popular fiction, both inside and beyond the books themselves, have affected the romance genre in specific ways that demand critical attention. This book brings together a collection of twelve chapters on postmillennial developments in contemporary popular romance fiction produced in different countries in order to prove how the genre, which has always been sensitive to customer demands and market trends, has continued to evolve accordingly. The chapters focus on how traditional formulae are being reshaped and adapted to meet readers’ expectations and market demands within this thriving transnational industry.

 

Fernández-Rodríguez, Carolina 2021: American Quaker Romances.  Building the Myth of the White Christian Nation Biblioteca Javier Coy de Estudios Norteamericanos. Valencia: Publicaciones de la Universidad de Valencia.

Quaker characters have peopled many an American literary work—most notably Uncle Tom’s Cabin—as Quakerism has been historically associated with progressive attitudes and the advancement of social justice. With the rise in recent years of the Christian romance market, dominated by American Evangelical companies, there has been a renewed interest in fictional Quakers. In the historical Quaker romances analyzed in this book, Quaker heroines often devote time to spiritual considerations, advocate the sanctity of marriage and promote traditional family values. However, their concern with social justice also leads them to engage in subversive behavior and to question the status quo, as illustrated by heroines who are active on the Underground Railroad or are seen organizing the Seneca Falls convention. Though relatively liberal in terms of gender, Quaker romances are considerably less progressive when it comes to race relations. Thus, they reflect America’s conflicted relationship with its history of race and gender abuse, and the country’s tendency to both resist and advocate social change. Ultimately, Quaker romances reinforce the myth of America as a White and Christian nation, here embodied by the Quaker heroine, the all-powerful savior who rescues Native Americans, African Americans and Jews while conquering the hero’s heart.

 Articles

  • García Fernández, Aurora y Paloma Fresno-Calleja: Competence, Complicity and Complexity: Hsu-Ming Teo on the Pitfalls and Nuances of Reading and Researching Popular Romance”. Raudem (Revista Universitaria de Estudios de la Mujer) vol 8, 2020: pp. 261-280
  • Moreno-Álvarez, Alejandra: “Shifting Social Awareness: From Monsoon Wedding to Made in Heaven”. Cultural Perspectives. Journal for Literary and British Cultural Studies in Romania, vol. 25, 2020: 219-23.
  • Fernández-Rodríguez, Carolina: “Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona: The Romance that Became a Tourist Guide and Silenced the Mestiza”, Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 81, 2020: 193-215.
  • Fresno-Calleja, Paloma: “Sarah Lark Landscape Novels and the ‘New Zealand Exotic'”, Journal of Postcolonial Writing 56.2, 2020: 188-202.
  • Fresno-Calleja, Paloma: “Chick Lit Pasifika-Style or How to B(l)end the Formula: Lani Young’s Scarlet Series”, Contemporary Women’s Writing 13. 2, 2019: 203-221.
  • Fernández-Rodríguez, Carolina: “Chamorro WWII Romances: Combating Erasure with Tales of Survival and Vitality”, Journal of Popular Romance Studies, volume 8, 2019: 1-21.
  • Perez-Ríu, Carmen 2019: “Neo-Historical Fiction: David Mitchell’s Take on Adventure, Empire and the Exoticization of the Past”, Theory Now. Journal of Literature, Critique and Thought, 2.2, 2019: 182-199.
  • Moreno-Álvarez, Alejandra “De Kretser’s Retelling of a Ghost Love Story”. Humanities 9 (3): 87.
  • Pérez Rodríguez, Eva M. 2019: “Exoticisms and Female Redefinitions: Three Popular Women’s Fiction Works of World War 2”, Theory Now. Journal of Literature, Critique and Thought, 2.2, 2019: 200-216
  • Villar-Argáiz, Pilar 2018: “Ireland and the Popular Genre of Historical Romance: The Novels of Karen Robards”, ABEI: Brazilian Journal of Irish Studies, 20. 2: 97-109.
  • Fresno-Calleja, Paloma 2018: “Digging up the un/romantic past: The Revision of Popular Romance Codes in Rose Tremain’s The Colour and Maxine Alterio’s Ribbons of Grace”, Complutense Journal of English Studies 26, 47-64.
  • Pérez-Fernández, Irene 2018: “‘This is a business transaction, fundamentally’: Surrogate Motherhood in Meera Syal’s The House of Hidden Mothers”. Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, 58: 31-48
  • Fresno-Calleja, Paloma 2017: “Competing Demands, Intertwined Narratives: Ethnic, Gender and National Identities in Alison Wong’s As the Earth Turns Silver”, Coolabah, No. 22: 33-50.

Book chapters

  • Fresno-Calleja, Paloma: “Rugby Romances and the Branding of New Zealand”, in Romantic Escapes: Post-Millennial Trends in Contemporary Popular Romance Fiction, edited by Irene Pérez Fernández and Carmen Pérez Ríu. Bern: Peter Lang, 2021: 177-202.
  • Fernández-Rodríguez, Carolina: “Nora Roberts’s Boonsboro Economic Empire: Boosting Business through Romance, Invigorating Romance with Affective Capitalism”, in Romantic Escapes: Post-Millennial Trends in Contemporary Popular Romance Fiction, edited by Irene Pérez Fernández and Carmen Pérez Ríu. Bern: Peter Lang, 2021: 147-202.
  • Moreno-Álvarez, Alejandra: “Romance Novels in Postcolonial India: From Mills & Boon to Pageturn’s Red Romance Series”, in Romantic Escapes: Post-Millennial Trends in Contemporary Popular Romance Fiction, edited by Irene Pérez Fernández and Carmen Pérez Ríu. Bern: Peter Lang, 2021: 223-241.
  • Pérez-Fernández, Irene: “Genre Bending and Blending in Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses YA Series”, in Romantic Escapes: Post-Millennial Trends in Contemporary Popular Romance Fiction, edited by Irene Pérez Fernández and Carmen Pérez Ríu. Bern: Peter Lang, 2021: 265-290.
  • Pérez-Ríu, Carmen: “Romance Reading as Fandom in the Context of Convergence Culture, in Romantic Escapes: Post-Millennial Trends in Contemporary Popular Romance Fiction, edited by Irene Pérez Fernández and Carmen Pérez Ríu. Bern: Peter Lang, 2021: 147-202.
  • Fresno-Calleja, Paloma; Eva M. Pérez; Pilar Villar Argáiz; Miquel Pomar Amer: “The Romantic Tourist Novel and the Commodification of the Exotic“, in Advances in English and American Studies. Current Developments, Future Trends. Eds. P. Guerrero, M. Palma, M. Valero. Cordoba UP, 2020: 191-196.
  • Moreno-Álvarez, Alejandra: “India: Heat, Dust and Tea? Alienness and Marketability in Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Nicole C. Vosseler“. In Alien Domiciles: Diasporic Inquiries into South Asian Women’s Narratives. Ed. Shilpa Daithota Bhat. Maryland, US: Lexington Books, Rowman and Littlefield 2020: 39-52.
  • Perez Fernández, Irene; Carmen Pérez Ríu, Paloma Fresno Calleja y Aurora García Fernández 2018: “From Mills and Boon to the Post-Millenial Boom: The Production, Reception and Marketing of Popular Romance”. In Broadening Horizons. A Peak Panorama of English Studies in Spain. María Beatriz Hernández, Manuel Brito and Tomás Monterrey. La Laguna: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de la Laguna, pp. 335-340.
  • Irene Pérez-Fernández “Cartografías literarias alternativas de la ciudad de Londres en la ficción de Maggie Gee y Zadie Smith”. En Pastor García, Daniel (ed.). Escritoras en redes culturales transnacionales. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2018: 59-74.