Ruritanian romance

Ruritanian romance

A Ruritanian Romance is a story set in a fictional country, usually in Middle Europe or East Europe, such as the Ruritania that gave the genre its name. The popularity of the Graustark novels led to this type of story also being called Graustarkian Romances.

Such stories are typically swashbuckling adventure novels, tales of high romance and intrigue, centered on the upper classes, aristocracy and royalty. The themes of honor, loyalty, and love predominate, and the books frequently feature the restoration of kings to their thrones.

Although recognizable Ruritanian romances such as Robert Louis Stevenson's "Prince Otto" were written prior to Anthony Hope's "The Prisoner of Zenda", that 1894 novel set the type, with its handsome political decoy restoring the rightful king to the throne, and resulted in a burst of similar popular fiction, such as George Barr McCutcheon's Graustark novels and Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Lost Prince". See a list of homages here.

The genre was widely spoofed and parodied. George Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man" parodied many elements. Dorothy Sayers's "Have His Carcase" featured as the murder victim a man deceived by his murderers because of his foolish belief in his royal ancestry, fed by endless reading of Ruritanian romances. In Vladimir Nabokov's "Pale Fire", the main narrator has the delusion of being the incognito king of a "distant northern land" who romantically escaped a Soviet-backed revolution.cite journal | last = McCarthy | first = Mary | authorlink = Mary McCarthy (author) | title = A Bolt from the Blue | journal = The New Republic | date = June 4, 1962 Revised version in cite book |author= Mary McCarthy |title=A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays |url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1590170105/ |accessdate=2006-09-25 |year=2002 |publisher=The New York Review of Books |location=New York |id=ISBN 1-59017-010-5 |pages=pp. 83–102] The genre was spoofed in "The Princess Bride", which features the fictional countries of Guilder and Florin (terms for old forms of money).

The popularity of the genre declined after the first part of the twentieth century. Aside from the change in literary taste, the royalist elements of Ruritanian romances became less plausible as many European monarchies receded even from memory, and their restorations grew less likely.

Many elements of the genre have been transplanted into fantasy worlds, particularly those of fantasy of manners and alternate history. The science fiction writer Andre Norton first reached success with a 1934 Ruritanian novel, "The Prince Commands". Although "Ruritania" originally referred to a "contemporary" country, the idea has been adapted for use in historical fiction. A subgenre of this is historical romance, such as Jennifer Blake's "Royal Seduction" and its sequel "Royal Passion"; both are set in the nineteenth century and feature Prince Rolfe (later King) and his son Prince Roderic respectively, of the fictional Balkan country of Ruthenia.

References

*John Clute and John Grant, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy"

External links

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext95/prott10.txt Robert Louis Stevenson's "Prince Otto"]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/384/384-8.txt Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Lost Prince"]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Romance — or romantic may refer to: *Romance languages, such as, but not limited to, French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Romanian, and Spanish;Literature * Romance (genre), a genre of medieval and renaissance narrative fiction * Romance novel, a genre of …   Wikipedia

  • Romance (genre) — For the modern genre of romantic fiction, see Romance novel and Romance film. Yvain fighting Gawain. Medieval illumination from Chrétien de Troyes s romance, Yvain, le Chevalier au Lion …   Wikipedia

  • Ruritanian — [roor΄ə tā′nē ən] adj. 〚after Ruritania, imaginary kingdom in novels by Anthony Hope〛 of, like, or characteristic of some quaint, romantic, unreal place * * * Ru·ri·ta·ni·an (ro͝or ĭ tāʹnē ən) adj. Of, relating to, or having the characteristics… …   Universalium

  • Ruritanian — 1. adjective /ˌɹʊə.ɹɪˈteɪ.ni.ən,ˌɹʊɹ.ɪˈteɪ.ni.ən/ Of or having the characteristics of adventure, romance, and intrigue, as in works of romantic fiction. These claims were called the Greater Ruritania by the cultivated classes who regarded Kipling …   Wiktionary

  • Ruritanian — adjective Etymology: Ruritania, fictional kingdom in the novel Prisoner of Zenda (1894) by Anthony Hope Date: 1896 of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an imaginary place of high romance …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Ruritania — is a fictional country in central Europe which forms the setting for three books by Anthony Hope: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), The Heart of Princess Osra (1896), and Rupert of Hentzau (1898). The kingdom is also the setting for sequels and… …   Wikipedia

  • List of fictional European countries — This is a partial list of fictional countries in Europe.List moved from elsewhereEastern Europe*Adjikistan: Featured Eurasian country in . *Alvania: Balkan kingdom from the movie The Royal Rider *Anatruria: Balkanic kingdom in the Bernie… …   Wikipedia

  • The Prisoner of Zenda — infobox Book | name = The Prisoner of Zenda orig title = translator = image caption = Cover to 2nd edition author = Anthony Hope cover artist = country = United Kingdom language = English series = genre = Historical, Novel publisher = Penguin… …   Wikipedia

  • The Mad King — infobox Book | name = The Mad King orig title = translator = image caption = Dust jacket from the first edition of The Mad King author = Edgar Rice Burroughs cover artist = country = United States language = English series = genre = Ruritanian… …   Wikipedia

  • Alternate history — This article is about the subgenre in fiction. For other uses, see Alternative history (disambiguation). Speculative Fiction Speculative fiction Portal v · d · e …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”