Romance and Race

<p><i>Race and Romance: Coloring the Past</i> explores the literary and cultural genealogy of colorism, white passing, and white presenting in the romance genre. The scope of the study ranges from Heliodorus’ <i>Aithiopika</i> to the short novels of Aphra Behn, to the modern romance novel <i>Forbidden</i> by Beverly Jenkins. This analysis engages with the troublesome racecraft of “passing” and the instability of racial identity and its formation from the premodern to the present. The study also looks at the significance of white settler colonialism to early modern romance narratives. A bridge between studies of early modern romance and scholarship on twenty-first-century romance novels, this book is well-suited for those interested in the romance genre.</p>