Why the "Regency Era" is a fantasy realm

I've seen some interesting discussions back and forth about making historical fiction and particularly historical romance more inclusive, and I do think that there's some merit to the argument that merely inserting BIPOC as part of the ruling class erases many of the historic struggles people went through in terms of both class and race.

However, there's something that people don't seem to realize when it comes to the Regency Era: it's a fantasy realm that was primarily created by a single author.

Just as J.R.R. Tolkien published his Lord of the Rings books and created a world that would loom over the fantasy genre for decades to come, Georgette Heyer created the Regency Era in a way that I think people looking at the romance genre from the outside don't really understand.

Heyer wrote several historical romances and mystery novels prior to 1935, but it was with Regency Buck that she introduced her version of the Regency Era, a version that has actually been far more influential in popular culture than that of Jane Austen. (Most of the Austen adaptations pull more from Heyer than people realize, especially in terms of manners.) Heyer's world is all polite society heroes with a stiff upper lip and perhaps a tinge of rakishness, spirited yet virginal heroines, and a cast of supporting characters that range from younger brothers to elderly aunts.

There are very few hints that anyone outside the aristocracy is of any consequence, or even knows how to behave themselves, even when the middle-class daughter of a rich "Cit" marries an impoverished aristocrat in A Civil Contract. Sex exists, but only behind firmly closed doors and, for the heroines, only after marriage.

And what about the minorities that we know lived in Great Britain during the Regency Era? Not just the racial minorities that included Black citizens and former slaves as well as Indian immigrants, but also religious minorities? They pretty much don't exist in Heyer's world, apart from a few anti-Semitic stereotypes of rapacious Jewish moneylenders that make modern readers cringe when they stumble across an unbowdlerized edition. There are a few jokes and whispers about "unmanly" men, but that's about it for LGBTQIA+ representation as well.

Given what we now know about the Regency Era -- and we know a lot more than Heyer did when she was writing almost a hundred years ago -- we know that her view of Regency society was as artificial as Tolkien's world. Despite her use of historical sources, her romance novels are set in a fantasy world that melds the fashions and historical events of the Regency with the Victorian morals and mores that Heyer herself was raised with. The Regency Era was the late Georgian Era and was far more vulgar and free-wheeling than Heyer was willing to admit. She left out the people who didn't fit into her vision of the Regency, which showed an Anglo-Saxon ruling class that deserved to rule because of their natural superiority.

So my opinion about TV shows and films like Bridgerton and Mr. Malcolm's List that show an inclusive aristocracy in the Regency Era is ... well, it's all fantasy anyway, isn't it? Why not make the fantasy inclusive since the whole era is Heyer's illusion dressed up with a few historical details?

And if you want to try and argue that Heyer was historically accurate about everything, be prepared: I have sources that Heyer either ignored or did not have available to her. Look up Benjamin Silliman's 1803 journal of his trip to Great Britain sometime.

18+ writeblr intro

Hi! My name's Atlas, I'm 30, and I use they/them pronouns!

I'm a published author who writes spicy/steamy/kinky queer stuff involving a variety of genders and sexualities... and usually demons and vampires or whatever

I have a website if you want to learn more about my writing! You can also sign up for my newsletter and get a free preview of my MMM paranormal steamy romance Between Two Worlds!

I'm looking to meet other (ideally queer) authors of (definitely queer) adult stuff and share more about my writing on here :)) Open to tag games and stuff!

I just remade and am pretty new to figuring this stuff out so let me know if there are particular tags I should use/look at for 18+ writing!

You probably shouldn’t just link with strangers in the street, but then again, everyone’s a stranger till you connect *pewpew*

Ck MagicalMashup! Link in bio :) or like copy paste https://LadyTMusings.art

may the 4th book recommendations

What better way to celebrate May 4th than with a round-up of romance books that are the fourth one in their respective series - I love all these books a whole lot. In fact, many of them happen to be my favorite one in their series.

My Top Reads of 2023

Here we are…another year gone. I honestly don’t know where 2023 went. It moved so slowly while in retrospect feeling like it went so quickly. It’s quite bizarre if you ask me. As I sat down to work on this post, I realized that I somehow missed creating a post for 2022. I did list my top reads of 2022 on my Instagram (you can still see them in Story highlights), but I missed adding them to the…

View On WordPress

Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne

TITLE: Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne My rating: 4 of 5 stars Genre: Modern retelling, contemporary romance, Jane Austen retelling, diverse romance Format: Paperback (401 pages) Published: November 15, 2022 by Berkeley Blurb: Liza B–The Only DJ That Gives a Jam—wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But…

View On WordPress

Cover Reveal: Friend Zoned by Evelyn Sola

#CoverReveal: Friend Zoned by @WritesEvelyn

We are so excited to share the cover reveal of Friend Zoned by Evelyn Sola. Fans who enjoy diverse contemporary romances will sink their teeth into this steamy, friends to lovers romance. Keep scrolling for more details about this sexy cover. Title: Friend Zoned Author: Evelyn Sola Release Date: 06/02/2023 Genres: Contemporary Romance Page Count: 126,000 words Trope: Friends to Lovers, Sports…

View On WordPress

they are teenage lovers, they are girlfriends, they are old man yaoi, they are ancient yuri, they are nb4nb, they are a situationship, they are married, they are divorced, they are remarried, they are forbidden lovers, they are best friends to lovers, they are biblical partners, they are queer, they are eldritch abominations in love

Join us at the next Between the Covers Romance Book Club meeting tomorrow, October 6, 5:30 - 6:45 p.m. PDT!

We will be meeting both in the Library Board Room and on Zoom. We'll be discussing "Ramón and Julieta" by Author Alana Albertson! All are welcome!

Sponsored by the Friends of the Escondido Public Library.

Oh, hey, the anthology I’m in is having a Black Friday sale! This is the one that includes my award-winning novella “Impossible Tasks.”

(And, yeah, I used my favorite celebrity couple as my models for the leads. 😊)

BLACK FRIDAY SALE!

16 Stories for 99 Cents!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QLNWY1Y

Under Your Spell:

Your favorite fairy tales … with a twist. What happens when you can’t choose between Prince Charming and the Dragon? What if Goldilocks really wanted to stay? Was the Big Bad Wolf really that bad?

Sixteen titillating stories from USA Today best-selling and award-winning romance authors in a spicy collection curated by The New Romance Café. HEA guaranteed.

Listen.

Y’all can ship whatever you want,

But Luz Noceda did not hurt her back carrying Hunter’s entire rescue and redemption arc for people to claim that WILLOW is Hunter’s Evelyn.

My girl strolled in from a different realm and adopted Hunter like he was a rescue pitbull from a fighting ring that everyone else thought was vicious but really it just had so much anxiety and was in desperate need of some tender love and care.

Luz is Evelyn’s parallel.

She’s a girl from another world, one who embodies everything he was raised to see as dangerous and evil. She literally introduced him to Flapjck (best friend/emotional support palismen) and planted the initial seeds of uncertainty in his mind. She reaches out to him, protects him, and saves him from Belos, spiriting him away to be a part of her family instead. Belos literally said to her face “But thanks to you, I'll have to make another one.” Cant get much clearer than that. Evelyn corrupted Caleb. Luz corrupted Hunter.

Just because the relationship between Caleb and Evelyn was romantic doesn’t mean that a parallel for Hunter has to ALSO be romantic. It’s about love in general. Love and Family.

Do you know how rare it is for one of my favorite platonic pairs to be treated with the same level of importance as the romantic pairs??

You aren’t stealing this from me.

Platonic love wins this round 👊

Tastes Like Shakkar- Review

Tastes Like Shakkar By Nisha Sharma Genre: Contemporary Romance Series: If Shakespeare Were an Auntie #2 Publisher: Avon Publication Date: August 1,2023 Rating: 4.75 Stars Amazon Indiebound Description: In the hilarious follow-up to the breakout rom-com Dating Dr. Dil, Nisha Sharma adds shakkar and mirch to Shakespeare’s iconic comedy Much Ado About Nothing for one sweet and spicy love…

View On WordPress

may TBR

Mid-Year Freak Out Tag 2022

Mid-Year Freak Out Tag 2022

So, it’s way past the halfway through 2022 point. But I haven’t done this tag in three years. Three years! So, I figured late was better than waiting another year, right? For those of you who never saw them or those of you who’d like to take a walk down memory lane, here are my Mid-Year Freak Out Tag posts from 2018 and 2019! And now I’ll just dive right in! Continue reading

View On WordPress