🎙️ Episode 002: The Romance Confession: How I Stopped Looking Down on Love Stories
Episode Length: 15 minutes
Show Notes:
Once upon a time, I turned my nose up at romance. I wanted to be taken seriously as a writer, a thinker, a student of literature. Romance, I believed, was too soft, too predictable, too unserious.
In this episode, I share how I came to eat those words, with gratitude.
We explore how genre snobbery gets tangled with sexism, why writing romance is anything but easy, and how love stories, especially the ones penned by Jane Austen, are far more than marriage plots for rich girls. I unpack the unique emotional and structural arcs of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility, placing them in the context of Enlightenment thought, early feminism, and the abolitionist movement.
This is a love letter to the genre I once dismissed, and to the power of stories that dare to believe in transformation.
Mentioned in this episode:
* A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)
* The British abolitionist movement and its quiet presence in Austen’s novels
* Enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, second chances, and forbidden love: the emotional architecture of Austen’s most beloved works
If you enjoyed this episode, you can find more musings, updates, and literary reflections at The Sensibility Society on Substack.
Live your life with Regency charm.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mcnelliswrites.substack.com
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