I never truly thought of romance as anything more than a standard genre of both literature and movies. Sara showed me otherwise. This rose cafe was much different than others I have attended, and I liked the that. The reason I felt it was different is  Sara made it more discussion based than simply explaining her topic then Q/A. Sara truly was able to guide the Cafe to explain what she does, while incorporating our thoughts and questions to heighten her topic.

To me, romance in literature/films was always about person A wanting to get the attention of person Band then to live a happy life together. With her insight, Sara was able to open up brand new doors for me. She explained how there are many types of romance and how they all branch off from earlier ideas set by others. For example, while she looks at romance from a classical perspective, we were able to go off of that notion and talk about romance in a modern day sense. We talked about what romance is in this day and time compared to our thoughts on what it was years ago.

This Cafe really made me want to start “reading for fun” like I did when I was younger. If that was Sara’s goal then it worked because I am now doing so

This weeks Rose café was one of the most enjoyable because Sara is so passionate about the work she is studying and you can tell how excited she gets to share it with us. Sara works on romance in the classic sense which may be contrary to ones instinctive understanding of romance in literature. In history romantic literature is characterized by fantasy, magic, love, disruption of authority and general escapes from reality. By explaining the roots of romance back to medieval literature Sara really opened up my understanding of the definition of romance of a genre.

We also spent some time relating these research topics to modern day. Sara told us of her plans to make her current research into a historically comprehensive book about romance literature into modern day. We talked about how social media and consumer culture is in itself a function of romance; allowing us to escape from reality and choose our modes of perception. Another interesting part of this discussion was peoples expressed interest in fantasy and romance in their younger teen years. I wonder what this means about the link between fantasy and romance and what role that plays in the maturation process. Also, how does fantasy and romance maintain a role in our lives through altered forms/mediums and we become increasingly immersed in realistic adulthood?

Last Week, I attended GRF Sara’s Rose Cafe about romance in the traditional sense. Although many of us today would associate “romance” with a certain genre of novels and with love and romantic relationships, the word also has another meaning that refers to a genre of historical literature dealing with fantasy and adventures and idealized heroes. Thus, we have Arthurian romances chronicling the adventures of King Arthur and his knights. Epic fantasy novels or series such as J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings would also be considered romance. GRF Sara’s research studies the rise and fall of the popularity of romance during the English Renaissance period, but – knowing that this topic might be foreign to most of us – she linked the ideas of romance, magic, and alternate realities that cropped up during this historical time period to modern day issues.

One subject that we touched on near the end especially piqued my interest. We discussed our interests in the fantasy genre and whether romance is still thriving through these stories. Many people in the group mentioned that they had read fantasy books as children but no longer did, leading me to wonder about the inherent idealism present in many fantasy stories and whether that contributes to our nostalgia surrounding them. The main conceit of romance, with chivalrous heroes and epic adventures, lends itself to stories with very clear-cut morality systems and conflicts between good and evil. Nevertheless, as a current avid reader of fantasy literature, I know that many novels in the genre subvert these expectations, and I wonder about how historical authors of romances tackled these ideas.

Last week I attended a great Rose Cafe hosted by our GRF Sara. Sara’s studies are on romance in literature and how the policing and treatment of romance literature reflects upon modern society’s values. Although I have not done in depth research on romance, I definitely saw where Sara was going with her research question.

Currently, I am enrolled in a class about the medieval romances. This cafe got me to think about how these medieval romances have somehow stuck around for thousands of years after their initial conception. Although I tend to read them skeptically, due to the fantastical and unlikely occurrences within them, I’ve begun to realize this might be the appeal of the genre. No real life romance plays out the way they do in the epic romances, just as no one will really embark on a quest to save the world because they were born the chosen one. I think romance is fantasy, in both senses of the word. Modern day fantasy novels incorporate many of the tropes seen in medieval romance, and fulfill our fantasies at the same time. Whether this is a fantasy of a perfect, epic romance or of vanquishing evil singlehandedly.

This cafe got me to thinking about the reasons I had once used to profess my dislike of the romances in the romance genre. I now realize there is no real reason to think of them poorly as unrealistic ideals of love, when they were always intended as unachievable ideals of love that are simply meant to fulfill fantastical desires. Overall, it was a great cafe that has opened up my perspective in reading the romance era of literature.

It’s crazy the impact that your living place has on your life. In GRF Sara’s case, it brought her to the topic of her dissertation. She claimed that it is important to study a topic that is interesting to others. When we hear the word “romance” today we think of a romantic gesture but would not typically use it to describe our relationships. In past centuries, that wasn’t the case. Romance was a type of literature which had elements of magic, tragedy and adultery. If you look at the impact technology has on our society, it’s as if it forces us to live in a romance whether we want to or not. I thought this was a very interesting thought. Our online experience is tailored for each individual based on our searches and previous internet activity. We see mostly what we want to see. What will new advances in technology do to our society? Virtual reality enables people to escape and enter these mythical lands of adventure. Will our time period take escaping reality to a new level?

On a side note, I just wanted to say how pure and enjoyable it was to see how excited GRF Sara got when another scholar said she was taking a medieval romance course this semester. Thank you for sharing your work with us!

It was really interesting to learn about the romance genre as one that stems from medieval literature and focuses more on disruption of authority and pursuit of adventure and fantasy. Students shared their favorite past-time adventure books and readings, and it was interesting to notice that a lot of them experience nostalgia when thinking about them. Perhaps we all have some continuous desire for adventure, creative thinking, and fantasy that never truly leaves even when we are adults. I also really appreciated that the speaker shared her personal life experience about taking an untraditional pathway from a career in finance and then taking an opportunity to become a graduate student in Literature at Cornell. That takes a lot of willpower and dedication, but most importantly a strong commitment towards the things that you truly care about and feel that you can positively contribute to the world. In that sense it was really inspiring to hear about the journey of such an individual.

At this week’s rose cafe, GRF Sara discussed romance in literature. She had to clarify that this does not imply dating or love, but instead a complex relationship with authority and escapism. We began by pointing out that most medieval romances did not focus on a happy love story, but instead on adultery. This kind of romance, as Sara points out, disrupts authority. It disrupts the institutions that tell us what is right is a happily married nuclear family. In another way, romance also ties in with desired-based thinking. And nothing is more desirable that the wish to flee away from all responsibilities and make the escape. I think this is why fantasy shows and books are so popular amongst young adults, who recently have entered the workforce and facing responsibilities desperately desire an escape from it all. I think this cafe helped further dissect our literary and entertainment interests to see exactly how they reflect our innermost desires. And literature helps do this longitudinally on different sentiments throughout history.