Thursday, March 25, 2010

Mr. Impossible goes to Yale

Nerdy History Girl Susan Holloway Scott called my attention to this piece by George Eliot

I know that for some people, all romance novels are "silly novels by lady novelists." 

But I don't care what they say because I'm on a reading list at Yale.  Authors Lauren Willig and Cara Elliott are teaching a course called "Reading the Historical Romance"— and my very own Mr. Impossible is Required Reading!  Which is kind of funny, considering that the hero Rupert is...erm...well, no Einstein.  But there he is, in the hallowed halls of academe. 

That's Lauren on the left and Cara on the right.  And if various schedules can be made to mesh, I'll be meeting their students next month.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too awesome! I wanna take that class! -- willaful

M said...

I wanna take that class too!

cara elliott said...

Our students will be "in alt" to meet you!

Kathy said...

This is fantastic!

I adore Rupert Carsington to an unhealthy degree.

~Karen said...

I love Lauren's historical/spy series. Now I know she has excellent taste in other historical romance authors. I would love to get my hands on their entire book list.

Vivian said...

Thank you for posting the link to George Eliot's essay. It's deliciously astringent. There's no danger of Mr. Impossible falling into that category, however, or any other Loretta Chase.

atdavis said...

I go to William and Mary and we have a "Reading the Romance" freshman seminar class. I didn't get to take it, but it's a very popular class! One of my closest friends took it, and that's how we both got into reading romance novels regularly :)
I believe the reading list included the likes of Lisa Kleypas, Amanda Quick, and Daphne Du Maurier.

Also, this same friend got several questions right on a psychology exam thanks to some of her romance reading! Go romance!

Loretta Chase said...

Anon, KIKI--I think a class may soon be coming to a school near you. Tess tells us it's at William & Mary--and the Queen was there, even--and I hear it was on the curriculum at Penn State as well. Kathy, there are some students at Yale who seem to feel the same way you do. Karen, I'll ask Lauren about that--or you can email her directly. Vivian, "deliciously astringent" is a perfect way of putting it. Tess, thank you for adding to our list of Colleges That Get It.