The editorial essay is uncomfortably close to my own essay on romance novels, both in content and in tone (although infinitely better researched). Doppelganger sensation! But I know I didn't read the book and forget about it; I hoard my few volumes on the history and writing of romances. A side by side reading would be enough to clear me of any charges of plagiarism were it ever to come up, but I can't help but be slightly appalled to recognise similarities. It makes me feel a lot less certain about people who claimed they sent their songs or stories to someone and then saw what they were sure was a plagiarized version of their song or story on a shelf at Tower Records. What are the odds of someone writing something incredibly similar to someone else's fiction, or song, or poem? Quite high, perhaps. I used to just laugh at those claims. It seems murkier to me now.

Theft of intellectual property can be fairly straightforward, of course. I was particularly interested to read in Saturday's New York Times that the U.S. is considering trade sanctions against Israel over widespread pirating of American vidotapes and compact discs. Over the last two years, the Knesset have weakened copyright laws or conveniently ignored them. The U.S. entertainment industry is frustrated by the lack of respect for their intellectual property. I can understand that. They're losing a lot of money. I wonder, though, if the U.S. will have the guts to stand up to Israel on this issue. We don't seem to take a hard line with them on much politically.

I must say I really enjoyed the book. The collection was a little uneven, but the essays were mostly quite interesting. They covered the same ground repeatedly: women read romances because creating and fostering intimacy is an important, integral part of being a mature female, readers of romances have no trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality, the hero is the real focus of reader identification, not the heroine, and it is the successful rendering of his character that makes or breaks a book. Everyone who wrote an essay was a published romance writer (and several wrote in other genres).

I felt my own efforts at writing a short history of the romance novel, and a sturdy defense of reading them, were thoroughly backed up by all these practicioners of the art writing about why they loved reading and writing romances. Romance novels are fun to read, and the real thing's not easy to write, and they are no less valuable a form of pop fiction than detective novels, or thrillers, or any other genre. Their bad rep is undeserved.

Darned tootin'.

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