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Reading for Pleasure

Working Women and the Popular Romance in Early Twentieth-Century Britain
By Dr. or Prof. Lise Shapiro Sanders
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Brief Description
Asserts that the popular romance offered new possibilities for young working women as social actors and media consumers in early 20th-century Britain. Young working women were the target audience for popular romance fiction and film in early 20th-century Britain, and as such, were often seen as... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$5000
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Releases 12th November 2026 (Approx. Date) Pre-order  "Reading for Pleasure" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

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A study of working women’s experience of modernity as revealed through the popular romance in early 20th-century Britain, with a focus on girls’ and women’s magazines, bestselling novels by Elinor Glyn and E. M. Hull and their circulation in silent film culture, and women’s writings on sexual and political agency.

A study of working women’s experience of modernity as revealed through the popular romance in early 20th-century Britain, with a focus on girls’ and women’s magazines, bestselling novels by Elinor Glyn and E. M. Hull and their circulation in silent film culture, and women’s writings on sexual and political agency.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Asserts that the popular romance offered new possibilities for young working women as social actors and media consumers in early 20th-century Britain.

Young working women were the target audience for popular romance fiction and film in early 20th-century Britain, and as such, were often seen as impressionable consumers of escapist fantasies. Reading for Pleasure complicates this narrative, revealing how women writers, readers, and audiences reimagined the romance.

Reading bestselling novels by Elinor Glyn and E. M. Hull, weekly magazines for girls and young women, and the writings of birth control campaigner Marie Stopes and socialist feminist Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, among others, Lise Shapiro Sanders offers an interdisciplinary study of early 20th-century popular romance fiction written by and for women, in the context of the star discourses and fan cultures of silent cinema. She examines how the popular romance resonated with the lives and experiences of young working women, exploring topics such as fashion, beauty, and consumption; desire, pleasure, and affect; sexuality and contraception; feminism, labour, and political activism.

By examining the historical foundations of the popular romance, Reading for Pleasure argues that we can glean important insights into young women's social and political agency, both in the early 20th century and today.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9798765141601

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 October 2026

Country: United States

Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic

Illustration: 33 b&w illustrations

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 248

Collections

Arts & Culture Dr. or Prof. Lise Shapiro Sanders Education & Reference General Fiction Non-Fiction Pop Culture: Best-Selling Books Pop Culture: Books Coming Soon Pre-order Books Pre-orders Pre-orders by Release Date

About the Author

Lise Shapiro Sanders is Professor of English Literature and Cultural Studies at Hampshire College, USA. Her books include Embodied Utopias: Gender, Social Change, and the Modern Metropolis (2002), Consuming Fantasies: Labor, Leisure, and the London Shopgirl, 1880-1920 (2006), Bodies and Lives in Victorian England: Science, Sexuality, and the Affliction of Being Female (2020), and Temples of Luxury (2024). Reading for Pleasure was supported by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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  • Reading for Pleasure
    Pre-order
    Reading for Pleasure
    Asserts that the popular romance offered new possibilities for young working women as social actors and media consumers in early 20th-century Britain. Young working women were the target audience for popular romance fiction and film in early 20th-century Britain, and as such, were often seen as impressionable consumers of escapist fantasies. Reading for Pleasure complicates this narrative, revealing how women...
    By Dr. or Prof. Lise Shapiro Sanders
    Hardback
    $22000
    Pre-order
    Out 1 Oct 2026

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