Lauren Collins talks with Curtis Fox about her profile of Nora Roberts

A recent podcast of the New Yorker Out Loud features Lauren Collins, author of Real Romance: How Nora Roberts Became America’s Most Popular Novelist. In an interview with host Curtis Fox, Collins discusses her June 22, 2009 New Yorker profile of Roberts.

Photo credit: New Yorker Out Loud (Creative Commons)

Fox, who refers to Nora Roberts as both “alarmingly productive” and “astonishingly popular,” begins his interview by asking Collins why romantic fiction gets little respect from the literary establishment. Collins sees two reasons for this lack of regard.

According to Collins, romance novels, which are generally written by and for women, focus on emotion, and emotions can be easily dismissed. Furthermore, critics sometimes forget that romantic fiction is a genre, and its writers are bound by the conventions of that genre. These critics confuse following such conventions with a lack of imagination. Collins also provides a brief discussion of romantic fiction from Samuel Richardson’s 1740 novel, Pamela, to the present day.

Fox next asks for Collins’ response to the popular concept of romantic novels as escapist fantasy – works whose main purpose is to distract people from the reality of their everyday lives. Collins does not consider Roberts’ novels as escapist because they focus on “fundamentally hardworking, good people” who are rooted in their community, not on jet-setters bound for Monte Carlo or other exotic locales. Roberts’ novels demonstrate their author’s view that romantic fiction should feature understandable characters with whom readers can connect.

Fox also asks Collins about the depiction of sex in Roberts’ novels. Collins maintains that while Roberts is not “squeamish or overly delicate” in her depiction of sex, she also treats the subject with playfulness and humor. For Roberts’ heroes and heroines, sexual involvement means commitment to each other and a desire “to start a family together.”

The high point of the interview comes near the conclusion of the podcast. Fox asks Collins if Roberts seemed “defensive” about having a New Yorker writer, a member of the literary establishment for whom Roberts has little regard, doing a profile on her. Collins responds that Roberts showed no resistance to the interview, but she also did not allow Collins much time for it either. Collins states, “Anything that takes away from her writing I think is to her a bit of a chore.” Apparently Roberts' indifference to literary regard remains unshaken by the New Yorker’s recent interest.