Romanticising the Suffragette: Historical Romances and the Commodification of the Cause

• Ripoll Fonollar, Mariana ^[1]
  1. [1] Universitat de les Illes Balears

     Universitat de les Illes Balears

     Palma de Mallorca, España

     
• Localización: Archivum: Revista de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, ISSN 0570-7218, Vol. 75, Nº 2, 2025, págs. 465-501
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.17811/arc.75.2.2025.465-501
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Idealización de las sufragistas: romances históricos y la mercantilización de la causa
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen
  • español

    En este artículo, analizo tres novelas de romance histórico: Suffragette in the City de Katie MacAlister (2011), The Suffragette Scandal de Courtney Milan (2014) y A Rogue of One’s Own de Evie Dunmore (2020). Basándome en sus características similares en cuanto a caracterización, trama y desenlace, se puede decir que estas obras forman un subgénero específico de romance histórico, al que propongo llamar “Suffragette Historical Romance” (Autora/a 2024). Primero, exploro estos romances partiendo de las convenciones narrativas recurrentes que Pamela Regis (2003) asocia con el género, la más distinguible de las cuales es lo que ella define como la “barrera”: aquello que impide la unión entre el héroe y la heroína (14). Argumento que lo que hace únicas a estas novelas es que presentan el papel de la protagonista como sufragista o suffragette como la barrera que impide la resolución positiva de la historia de amor. En consecuencia, el final feliz solo puede llegar cuando la heroína decide renunciar a su activismo. A continuación, me centro en cómo estos romances contemporáneos están impregnados de la “sensibilidad postfeminista” que Rosalind Gill atribuye a las narrativas postfeministas (2007) debido a su paradójica y simultánea incorporación y repulsa de los valores feministas. Finalmente, sostengo que el movimiento sufragista se utiliza aquí para promover una ideología postfeminista según la cual el feminismo ha conseguido sus objetivos y, como resultado, se presenta como importante, pero ya no necesario.

     

  • English

    In this article, I discuss three historical romance novels, Katie MacAlister’s Suffragette in the City (2011), Courtney Milan’s The Suffragette Scandal (2014), and Evie Dunmore’s A Rogue of One’s Own (2020). Based on their similar traits regarding characterisation, plot, and outcome, these works can be said to form a specific subgenre of historical romance, for which I propose the label “Suffragette Historical Romances” (Author 2024). I first explore these romances departing from the recurrent narrative conventions Pamela Regis (2003) associates with the genre, the most distinguishable of which is what she defines as the “barrier”: what prevents the union between hero and heroine (14). What makes these novels unique, I argue, is they present the protagonist’s role as a suffragist or suffragette as the obstacle to the happy resolution of the love story. Consequently, the happy ending can only arrive when the heroine decides to renounce her activism. I, then, focus on how these romances are impregnated by the “postfeminist sensibility” Rosalind Gill ascribes to postfeminist narratives (2007) as they paradoxically illustrate the simultaneous incorporation and repudiation of feminist values. I ultimately argue the suffrage campaign serves here to promote a postfeminist ideology according to which feminism has succeeded and, thus, is presented as important, yet no longer relevant.

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