Issue Details: First known date: 2017... 2017 Death and the Australian Rural Romance Novel
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'In A Natural History of the Romance Novel (2003), Pamela Regis argues that all romance novels have eight essential elements including one she terms the ‘point of ritual death’. This is a moment when the heroine and hero seem unlikely to overcome the real or imagined obstacles preventing their ‘happily ever after’. While the ‘point of ritual death’ can be literal or metaphorical, romance novels traditionally opt for symbolic forms of death such as illness, failing or unsuccessful relationships, or brushes with real death for the heroine or other characters. Representations of ritual death in Australian rural romance novels appear intense in a conspicuous way. In rural romances, ritual death frequently takes on deeper, darker forms arguably amplified by the rural setting. Death also occurs outside the ritual death scene; the death of a family member may serve as a story’s premise, a murder mystery may be entangled with the romantic plot or life and death may visit the rural characters at any time, especially where multi-generation families are concerned. This paper examines the representation of death in selected contemporary Australian rural romance novels published between 2002 and 2017. This article argues that literal and metaphorical representations of environmental, animal and human deaths appear in rural romances frequently and powerfully in various forms. Many rural romance novels fearlessly conjure existential realities that reinforce death as a vital part of the cycle of life.' (Publication abstract)

Notes

  • Epigraph:

    Core of my heart, my country!

    Her pitiless blue sky,

    When sick at heart, around us,

    We see the cattle die –

    But then the grey clouds gather,

    And we can bless again

    The drumming of an army,

    The steady, soaking rain. (Dorothea Mackellar ‘My Country’)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon TEXT Special Issue Website Series Writing Death and Dying no. 45 October 2017 12941635 2017 periodical issue

    'In October 2016, the editor of this Special Issue convened the second Australasian Death Studies Network (ADSN) conference in Noosa, Queensland. This event gathered a significant number of scholars and creative practitioners who were interested in exploring the symbolic and representational possibilities of the processes of death and dying. Following on from the first multi-disciplinary conference that established the ADSN the year before, this conference continued discussion and investigation into a range of cultural, humanities and social areas that conduct research into death and dying, including the creative arts, popular culture and health. There was a very strong representation of creative writers and creative writing researchers interested in these topics. These scholars and creative practitioners explored a wide range of topics including: representations of death and dying in literature, visual art and the media, music and various types of popular culture; Gothic representations of death, dying and the undead; and writing about death and dying across cultures and historical periods. Writing about gender, ageing and trauma in relation to death and dying were also discussed, as were transgression, murder and crime fiction. The keynote address, ‘A day in the life of a funeral director’, was not only a highlight of the conference, but provided a heady measure of realism to the deliberations.'  (Donna Lee Brien : Introduction)

    2017
Last amended 28 Aug 2024 11:34:04
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