Unrealistic romantic novels by Iranian writers can pose problems in the emotions of young readers in their future lives as they may visualize “a romantic situation far from reality,” said Mehrdad Nosrati, Iranian poet and writer.
Being popular among the young generation, the romance genre, also known as popular fiction, is plot-driven “written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre,” to appeal to readers emotions. Romance is currently the best-selling fiction genre in Iran, ISNA quoted Nosrati as saying.
The romantic novel is a literary genre. Novels of this type of genre fiction place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an “emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.” There are many subgenres of the romance novel including fantasy, historical, science fiction and paranormal.
Most of the teenagers regard romance novels “as entertainment and hobby” and search for their own needs and concerns in the story, Nosrati said, adding:” It is natural for youngsters across the world to experience reading such novels during their adolescence years (15-24), and a great number of well-known writers stepped into the literary world by writing romance.”
Escapism
Romantic novels are advantageous to young people as long as they avoid “creating a fantasy of emotional relationships which can lead to escapism - the tendency to seek distraction from reality by engaging in entertainment or fantasy,” he said, noting that based on experts’ opinion, the popularity of poor quality novels of this genre “is directly related to a superficial society.”
Pointing to the ten centuries of history of writing high quality romance in Iran, the veteran writer said:” As they are lesser-known among the young generation, the authorities and publishers should make serious efforts to introduce Iranian literary masterpieces as well as foreign literary works of writers who understand the reader’s intelligence.”
He urged official support for prominent contemporary romance novelists who seek to prioritize high quality romance rather than monetary considerations.
