20世纪八九十年代时，言情演义以席卷之势风靡于中国读者之中，琼瑶、亦舒、席绢等言情演义作者赶快蹿红，带来了言情演义的推动。一时间，俊男好意思女的主角，身世显耀的才子佳东说念主，神圣而唯好意思的爱情幻想引诱住了各个年岁头绪的读者，而这些快餐式言情演义的“无养分”也让不少家长和老师操坏了心。这似乎并不是咱们独到的困扰：本文作者在地铁上的一次偶遇俺去也小说，让他对当代西方女性的阅读回味产生了质疑……
By Palash Ghosh
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The other morning on my subway commute I sat next to an attractive young blonde woman who was reading something on her iPad.1 She was very well-dressed， carrying a Prada bag with tastefully applied make-up—indeed， she exuded an unmistakable air of affluence， material success and even authority.2 I suspected she worked as a highly-paid Wall Street attorney or stockbroker or something of that ilk.3 So， I was curious to see what she was poring over4. The Wall Street Journal perhaps? The New York Times? The Economist?5
Quite the contrary; rather， she was mesmerized by a romance novel—I could tell because I spied a few paragraphs written in the sentimental， florid style of that genre.6It occurred to me that the relative anonymity of an iPad (i.e.， in place of a paperback featuring an absurdly cartoonish cover illustration of a muscular he-man embracing a beautiful ingénue) spared her any embarrassment over her choice of reading matter.7 After all， romance novels fall into the same sordid category as soft porn， violent comic books and anything written by Stephen King in the realm of literary “guilty pleasures.”8
Then I realized that I have known many women who devour these romance novels—smart， attractive， successful， “liberated，” modern females who nonetheless find some kind of deep satisfaction and vicarious thrill from delving into hyper-romantic， contrived and extremely unrealistic tales of handsome， manly heroes falling in love with virginal women， enduring a series of adventures， then inexorably ending in a happy resolution.9
Hongkongdoll视频These “romance” stories are to literature what hot dogs are to cuisine—quickly made， tasty， filling， temporarily satisfying， but with no nutritional value whatsoever.10 Yet， the genre remains enormously popular.
Consider some of these sobering statistics from the good folks at the Romance Writers of America (RWA):11
*More than 9，000 romance titles were released in 2012， yielding sales of about $1.44 billion (more than triple the revenues generated by classic literary fiction)， making it the biggest portion of the U.S. consumer market at 16.7 percent.12
*Some 75 million people in the country read at least one romance novel in 2008， but most are long-time dedicated consumers of the genre.
*More than 90 percent of the market are women (okay， that’s not at all surprising).
*Readers are typically women between the ages 30 and 54 who are themselves involved in a romantic relationship (betraying the stereotype that only lonely women long for these tales of love and adventure).13
*Almost 40 percent of romance book consumers have an annual income of between $50，000 and $99，900 (placing them firmly in the middle class and even upper middle class).
I had thought that romance novels accounted for a very small fringe corner of the literary market—so I was quite surprised that this segment has such enormous popularity.14 Now that books are transitioning from the dying hardback and paperback forms to e-books， romance novels have made the change effortlessly;15 in fact， they represent the fastest-growing parts of the digital market， far ahead of general fiction， mystery and science fiction， according to Bowker， an industry research firm.
The most famous purveyor of romance novels is probably Toronto-based Harlequin Enterprises which generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually from book sales.16 The most well-known romance writer might have been Dame Barbara Cartland， the English woman who died only about twelve years ago at the age of 98. Throughout her long life， Cartland produced more than 700 novels which have reportedly sold as many as one billion copies around the world， which would make her one of the most prolific17 and successful authors ever.
Although Dame Cartland had a rather messy personal life herself， she nonetheless applied Victorian-era morality to her books—that is， only a chaste kiss between the protagonists， and generally no sexually explicit scenes.18 Princess Diana19 herself reportedly devoured Cartland’s tales of innocent romance. Granted， the contemporary romance genre has moved far from Dame Cartland’s squeamishness about sex， with female lead characters who are strong， independent and hardly virginal—but at their core， they remain true to her original vision of simple love stories that always lead to happiness.20
But I must wonder why so many women—forty years after the women’s liberation movement—continue to indulge in the fanciful tales of females so unlike them who live in fantasy worlds light years removed from their reality?21
I’m not sure if the immense popularity of romance novels represents a kind of “repudiation” of the women’s lib movement俺去也小说， but clearly something is missing in the lives and experiences of tens of millions (maybe even hundreds or millions) of contemporary ladies.22 An anonymous female reviewer at goodreads.com said of the genre: “Romance novels offer an escape from daily life with the belief that true love really exists.”23
A romance author named Donna Hatch who focuses on the Regency period (early 19th century Britain) explained the appeal of such books this way:24 “Regency men were civilized and treated women with courtesy. When a lady entered the room， gentlemen stood， doffed their hats， curtailed their language， offered an arm， bowed， and a hundred other little things I wish men still did today.25 But they were also very athletic26; they hunted， raced， fenced， boxed， rode horses.27 They were manly. Strong. Noble. Resolute28. Honorable. And that is why I love them!”
Mrs. Hatch may have expressed the secret (or not-so-secret?) desires and attitudes of untold millions of her peers—that is， in the early 21st century， have women grown tired of the burdens and expectations that the “freedoms” they have gained impart29 upon them? Is this a rejection of modern feminism? An expression of distaste of the hippie culture which essentially destroyed all traditional forms or behavior in the western world?30 Do women long for days of old when men were masculine gentlemen and women were feminine and protected as precious treasures and regarded as possessions?31
Perhaps most women (even the ones who get lost in romance novels) do not want to go all the way back—but it is obvious， they are unhappy with how the world has turned out in the contemporary era.
Still， I would suggest that if someone is enamored with romantic novels， one should perhaps eschew the contemporary books and read the beautiful， deep and moving works of 19th century women authors like Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters—they combined romanticism with cold hard reality and profound insights in humanity.32
Vocabulary：
1. commute: 通勤，往复交通；blonde: 金发女子，淡色头发的女东说念主。
2. 她穿着入时，拎着普拉达的包，略施映衬出回味的粉黛——不能含糊，她周身高下泄气出富饶、物资顺利以及桀骜骄横的气场。Prada: 普拉达，着名意大利前卫亏欠牌；exude: 泄气出，流披露；affluence: 浊富。
3. Wall Street: 华尔街，好意思国纽约市下曼哈顿的一条街说念，当今依然是好意思国经济最具影响力的金融市集和金融结构的代名词；attorney: 讼师；stockbroker: 股票牙东说念主；of that ilk: 合并类型的。
4. pore over: 专心阅读。
5. 著作中按序提到的报刊区分是：《华尔街日报》、《纽约时报》和《经济学家》，均是经济政事社论领域的严肃报纸。
6. mesmerize: 使……入迷；spy: （尤指经由寻找）瞬息看见，瞬息发现；sentimental: （故事、书等）故作伤感的；florid: （讲话、音乐或艺术）修饰过多的。
7. 这时我忽然意志到，iPad毫无个性的封盖顺利遮蔽了她正在阅读的实质（也便是说，他东说念主无法看到她正在阅读一册平装书，封面凸显了滑稽好笑的卡通式插画——一位肌肉进展的健壮须眉怀抱着一位娇媚无邪的青娥），她无须为我方所继承的书感到羞怯。anonymity: 无个性特征，无特质；paperback: 平装书，简装书；he-man: 〈幽默〉肌肉进展的健壮须眉；ingénue: 生动青娥，少不更事的初出茅屋者。
8. sordid: 猥亵的，暧昧的；soft porn: 软调色情，指交易上含有色情因素的像片或电影，稍少一些性裸露因素；Stephen King: 史蒂芬·金（1947— ），一位作品多产的好意思国畅销书作者，以恐怖演义著称。
9. 然后，我意志到我方竟相识不少如饥似渴地阅读言情演义的女性，她们王人是贤人、有魔力、“得到了解放”的当代顺利女性，但却在这些超等神圣、情节矫揉失误且极为不试验的故事中找到了某种深深的推动和仁至义尽的刺激；这些故事王人在施展超逸、勇敢、结实的骁雄们爱上了纯碎的青娥，他们在阅历了一系列的疼痛后毫无悬念地赢得了圆满的结局。devour: 如饥似渴地阅读；liberated: 被解放的，赢得摆脱的。此处指在女权主义主张之后赢得更多摆脱与权益的女性，她们在生养权、受练习权、性别愤慨等方面赢得了更多的话语权；vicarious: 仁至义尽的，产生共识的；delve: 探索，琢磨；contrived: 不当然的，矫揉失误的；virginal: 处女般的；inexorably: 不能违背地，不能鼎新地；resolution: 解答，处分。此处指故事的结局。
10. cuisine: （缜密的）菜肴，烹调；filling: （食品）使东说念主感到饱的；temporarily: 暂时的；whatsoever: 涓滴（用于强调含糊句）。
11. sobering: 使东说念主警觉的，令东说念主清亮的；Romance Writers of America: 好意思国言情演义作者协会，好意思国一个非渔利组织，主见是支助言情演义管事作者，并为他们提供外交契机。
12. title: （书的）一册，一种；yield: 产生，产出；revenue: （公司、机构等的）收入，收益。
13. betray: 背弃；stereotype: 模式化的想想，旧框框。
14. account for: 占（一定数目或比重）；fringe: 角落的，非主流的；segment: 部分。
15. transition: 过渡，转移；hardback: 硬皮书，精装本。
16. purveyor: 提供者，供应商；Harlequin Enterprises: （加拿大）禾林出书公司，大众最顺利的神圣演义出书商，被称为“出书界的麦当劳”。
17. prolific: （艺术家、作者等）多产的，作品丰富的。
18. messy: 错落词语的，粉饰的；Victorian-era: （英国）维多利亚期间，即英国维多利亚女王的管辖时期，被合计是英国工业立异和大英帝国的巅峰。维多利亚期间的说念德不雅念救援性节制，拦阻忍罪戾，主张签订严格的社会守则；chaste: 白皙的，不带性意味的；protagonist: 主角，故当事者东说念主公；explicit: （描绘性或暴力的讲话或画面）明晰露骨的。
19. Princess Diana: 威尔士王妃戴安娜（1961—1997），英国王储、威尔士亲王查尔斯的第一任内助。
20. granted: 固然，实在；squeamishness: 易受惊，神经脆弱。
21. indulge in: 千里迷于；light years: 远处地。
22. repudiation: 拒却，含糊；lib: liberation的缩写。
23. anonymous: 匿名的，不留本名的；goodreads.com: 好意思国一家典籍共享型外交网站。2013年由亚马逊公司收购纳入旗下。
24. Regency period: （英国的）居摄时期，约莫指1811年至1820年间。这一时期的欧洲发生了很多影响错误的历史事件，举例拿破仑交游的收场等，工业立异也与此时在英国握续张开。这一时期亦是英国着名作者简·奥斯汀作品的创作配景，使居摄时期在西方体裁史中有着很是的地位；appeal: 引诱力。
25. doff: 脱帽问候；curtail: 贬低，截止。
26. athletic: 结实的，擅长主张的。
27. race: 跑马；fence: 马术报复赛；box: 拳击主张。
28. resolute: 坚毅的。
29. impart: 赋予，赐与。
30. distaste: 厌恶，反感；hippie culture: 嬉皮士文化，伊始是用来描绘西方国度20世纪六七十年代不平习俗和那时政事的年青东说念主，用流浪的活命模式来反馈出他们对民族主义和越南交游的反对。他们的外貌特征是留长发、大胡子，常穿色调清秀的衣服或不寻常的服饰。
31. masculine: 须眉气概的；feminine: 女性气质的；possession: 所属物，财物。
32. 尽管如斯，我如故要建议那些酣醉于言情演义的读者们，大要她们应该抛开当代演义，转而去读简·奥斯汀和勃朗特姐妹等19世纪女性作者的那些文笔优好意思、寓意长远而动东说念主的作品——她们把神圣主义与冷情试验相接合，并冷落对东说念主性的长远视力。enamored: 青睐的，酣醉的；eschew: （挑升地）规避，躲避。
（起首：英语学习杂志 剪辑：祝兴媛）俺去也小说