ROMANCE AND AGENCY - AN ARGUMENT REVISITED

Sociological discussions of romance novels are sparse. As a cultural a rtifact, the formulaic genre of romance fiction (and its more than 50 million readers) has been ignored by many scholars, disdained by some for its mass-pop culture appeal, and condemned as a tool of the ''patr iarchal apparatus'' by others. Some feminist scholars have cautioned a gainst outright dismissal, however, pointing to oppositional codes and empowering elements in the texts themselves. have highlighted the exp ectations readers bring with them to the text. This important, though limited, discourse has contributed to the enduring debate over culture , that is, structure versus agency. We argue that the debate has remai ned one sided, as those who claim to afford women readers autonomy hav e done so within an equally deterministic framework (i.e., feminist po litics). Implications for affording readers even more autonomy are dis cussed.