Why I don't like Georgette Heyer

[sqbr]

So I love regency romances. Georgette Heyer is generally agreed to have been the creator of the genre, and is loved by most regency fans. And I can't stand her. I found myself ranting about why on twitter, but didn't have enough space to rant properly, so here we are.

I have only read a few Heyer romances, spaced out by the several years it took for me to forget how much I'd hated the last one before trying again. So I can't give an entirely informed opinion on her. Many people I highly respect adore her books, and that's fine. This is just why I don't like her. Note that the title isn't "why Georgette Heyer is objectively awful". I just get annoyed when she's presented as the Ultimate Regency Author All Regency Fans Love and All Regency Authors Should Emulate.

The two things I dislike about Georgette Heyer are (a) Her books in and of themselves (b) Some of the effects her books have had. I have no strong opinion on her as a person, she seems to have been kind of bigoted but also undeniably talented and hardworking.

First, the books themselves.

I think I have to start by saying what I like about the regency romances I do enjoy. So: I like the general romantic arc where two people meet, connect, solve their problems, and find happiness together. Being sex averse, I like a setting that means people have good reasons to be a bit weird about sex, though I'm fine with romantic sex scenes in that context. And I enjoy watching marginalised characters overcome adversity: at the very least a woman gaining agency, but preferably stories which also show working class/POC/Queer etc characters triumphing over the bigotries of the 19th century. For me the status quo is the villain, and the happy ending is triumphing over it.(*)

I've also read a moderate number of regency-ish novelists like Jane Austen (theoretically the inspiration for Georgette Heyer), and so while I don't have a deep understanding of the period do have some feel for it, and enjoy books which capture that feeling.

As I said I can't speak with a lot of authority, but every book of Heyer's I've tried has actively wallowed in sexism and classism. For her the status quo is the appeal. The final straw for me was The Grand Sophy which was aggressively antisemitic. She was writing in the 1930s-1970s, so can be forgiven for some old fashionedness, but was not only bad for her time, she was worse than many writers of the regency, especially Jane Austen, for whom sexism etc was a background noise they were used to but not something they celebrated.

I am particularly thrown out of stories with a lot of gender essentialism since it sets off my dysphoroia, and Georgette Heyer has it in buckets. She's sympathetic to women, but sees them as inherently different to men. She has witty, determined, and complex female characters, but her male love interests are (from what I've seen) all utter douchebags, so I keep going "Why is this awesome protagonist dating that jerk??" Even her fans tend to say the romance isn't the point: they read her books for the fun banter and shenanigans. But if I don't enjoy a romance novel as a romance it's much less fun, and if I don't believe the happy ending is actually happy it's ruined.

They are very witty, easy to read, and cleverly put together, and some of the characters and plots are great. That's just not enough to make up for the rest for me.

The other thing her books have going for them is how much regency detail they contain. She was a meticulous researcher, and her books have lots of old fashioned slang and little facts about locations and fashions etc that most modern writers (of her era or mine) wouldn't naturally know. But her books don't feel right to me. The fashions and social structures are heavily focussed on and fetishised when period authors included them as unremarkable background. There's too much regency slang, mostly individually fine but feeling gratuitous in aggregate, especially when she uses obscure terms frequently eg she sued another author for stealing the phrase "to make a cake of oneself" because she knew it only existed outside her books in an obscure memoir noone else had read. Also there's this weird double vision of people in early 19th century reflecting the attiudes of an early 20th century author. This "wrong feeling" is very subjective, and wouldn't bother me anywhere near as much if it wasn't for the broader influences I go into below.

So. That's why I don't enjoy her books. If it were just the books themselves, I wouldn't mind so much. But the problem is that since she kickstarted the regency romance genre she is seen as the platonic ideal all regencies should aim for, and her books act as the template others work from, so there's no escaping her legacy. She definitely deserves respect for being so prolific and well loved! And I can't blame her for other people's laziness, any more than I can blame Tolkein for crappy Lord of the rings knockoff fantasy. But it's still really annoying.

For a start, people replicate her particular brand of sexism and classism. Obviously, 21st century writers are perfectly capable of adding these things in independently, especially when trying to match 19th century writers. But the prejudices of the early 20th century, as reflected in Heyer's books, are different from those of the regency or of now. And Heyer was more prejudiced than the average person of her era. It's like people writing "historical fantasy" that assume the past had the attitudes of 1950s Disney fairytale movies. Even if they're criticising those attitudes it's still massively anachronistic, and also annoying: "look at me subverting the terrible prejudices of the regency" they say, while actually subverting a specific, particularly regressive 20th century author in ways that are often still less progressive than Jane Austen. And often they're not subverting anything, they're just replicating Heyer's biases thoughtlessly.

Also, people copy her dialogue, which is 1930s American in it's bones with a veneer of regency-nerd pretension. I find it more irritating than the people who just don't bother at all and write like modern Americans.

Signs you're reading a Heyer knockoff:

• attempts at "witty banter", generally not anywhere near as witty as actual Heyer.
  
• a Manly Domineering Hero who believes in Manliness, defined in a very 20th century way.
  
• a headstrong, willful heroine who ultimately wants to be dominated by the Manly hero, in a very 20th century heroine sort of way.
  
• the hero growling at the heroine for being so headstrong. He may call her a "minx".
  
• emphasis on the quintessential differences between men and women
  
• All sympathetic characters will be aristocracy or at least gentry, and the class will be presented as spending their days invested in fashion and gossip. Their clothes will be described in great detail, especially the hero's perfectly pressed and knotted cravats.
  
• Characters may be endearingly eccentric, but when push comes to shove will unquestioningly support the status quo.
  
• Terms like "chit", "diamond of the First Water", and "ton" will be said frequently, but basic conventions of regency dialogue (like not using contractions, or avoiding modern US slang) will be ignored.
  
• In short: Everyone will be concerned with the ton, and refer to the heroine as a diamond of the first water, except the hero, who will call her a headstrong chit.
  

Now the thing is, at this point the "regency" as defined in Heyer's books and those who've followed her is it's own fantasy setting, as different from reality as your average Robin Hood movie. Obviously some people kink on manly dudes in perfect cravats and that's fine, in and of itself. If these books were clearly labelled I would avoid them and not care, but they're not, so I grumble. Just like fans of pre-Tolkein-ish fantasy grumble about Tolkein knockoffs, fans of actual fairytales grumble about Disneyfied versions, and people who know anything about old fashioned language get annoyed at gratuitous and incorrect use of "thee". Wikipedia talks about a distinction between "regency romances" in the vein of Heyer and "Regency Historicals" which aren't as tightly bound by the established conventions, but in my expereince the differences aren't that neat.

Especially anoying to me is when people apply Heyer-esque conventions to adaptations or analysis of actual regency books, especially Jane Austen. The number of people who view Darcy as a Manly Regency Hero...

Of course the question remains: if Heyer hadn't started the regency romance genre, would it exist at all? And if it had developed independently, would it be any different? If I'm honest, I don't know the answer to either of those questions. I would rather the genre exist and be flawed than not, and a lot of the flaws were pretty inevitable. And I am 100% in favour of witty banter, thee dimensional strong willed female characters, and hijinks, so I can't say I hate everything in her legacy. But she still exemplifies a lot of what I find annoying in regency romance, so I'm going to resent her anyway.

(*)Examples: Courtney Milan, Rose Lerner, Anna Cowan. Some even have QUEER CHARACTERS! And POC! Not as villains!!!

Comments

[moonvoice]

This post is making me laugh so hard, because your shortform list describes nearly every Harlequin Regency romance that I ever read in the 90s and early 00s. The minx thing set me off, because I've read it so damned much.

These days I generally prefer KJ Charles' Regency stuff, which is m/m, but it's clear she's doing fucktons of her own research into the genre and so I'm coming across entirely new terms, the dialogue feels more natural (she obviously cares about it), and while it's still problematic (in that there aren't a ton of women characters, and therefore not much being done against sexism or misogyny in these kinds of texts), she subverts some of the classically held theories of Manliness etc.

But geez, you have just effectively described an entire era of reading for me. And yeah, it IS annoying. I actually avoid Regencies of almost any kind like the plague, and only read Charles on a personal recommendation (i.e. a friend is a friend of hers, lol).

I am all for your resentment, personally. Part of that 'you can love something or like it and still find it problematic as hell or secretly want to throw darts at an image of Heyer over a dartboard.'

[deird1]

All good points. None of them have been enough to turn me off Heyer's romances (although I prefer her 1930s murder mysteries), but all quite irritating from time to time.

[escritoireazul]

This is really interesting! I don't read a lot of Regency, it's not my preferred area, but I am always intrigued by the books other people talk about, and this was a perspective I haven't actually seen before. Thanks for taking the time to write it out.

[lilacsigil]

I've bounced off Heyer several times, and never understood why but this gives me a definite starting point. I do like it in fiction when societal norms are challenged (or at least, as in Austen, understood to cause hardship) and Heyer enjoys her time period so much that she doesn't want to do this.

[tree]

*fistbump of solidarity*

georgette heyer has many crimes against literature to answer for. i must disagree with you on this point, though: She definitely deserves respect for being so prolific and well loved!

nope.

[fred_mouse]

I've managed to read ~2.5 Heyer books. The first one was a careful recommendation, and it was okay. The second one squicked me badly, and when the third one looked to be going the way of the second, I noped out, and haven't gone back. But that has been my reaction to much of the romance genre, so had mostly attributed it to 'mainstream romance is not my thing'.

[emma_in_dream]

I like Heyer, mostly. Not the ones with the crazy overlord men but the ones with a sense of humour.

The aspect I find most jarring is the frequent anti-semitism. It's like she goes out of her way to make these jibes.

Really like your take on this

[(Anonymous)]

I find myself nodding agreement with what you say, even though I'm a signed up Georgette Heyer nerd (@georgettedaily on twitter). Apart from the antisemitism, and barely disguised homophobia (campness and cat-ownership being the sure signs of a male villain), there's clearly an inner conservative in me that can suspend disbelief and enjoy the fantasy world that she has imposed on the regency period.

I wrote a Pride and Prejudice sequel myself, Becoming Mary,and I realised it does ticks your boxes - well it would, as why would I write a novel that I didn't want to read myself??

"marginalised characters overcome adversity:"
Check
"a woman gaining agency"
Check (within trad 'happy ending' parameters)
"working class/POC/Queer etc characters triumphing over the bigotries of the 19th century."
Check - no POC, but the working class and Queer characters are real people essential to the story, and not add-ons
"For me the status quo is the villain, and the happy ending is triumphing over it."
Not sure how that plays out in my novel, but I agree with you in principle.

BTW, what's your twitter handle?
@amystreetauthor
Amy Street

georgette Heyer

[(Anonymous)]

surprised you find heyer's heroes to be douchebags. some of them are a bit overbearing, but generally they are softened by contact with the heroine. And some of them are very nice, my favourite being Hugo in the Unknown Ajax. snd freddy in Cotillion is sweet. and women are different from men. as for having working class or coloured heroines in heyer romances, I can't see them fitting in with her style. personally don't mind reading about upper class characters now and again, I don't think only working class people are worth reading about. I imagine you would disapprove of P.G. wodehouse for the same reason

Louise

Why I don't like Georgette Heyer

[(Anonymous)]

As a life-long Heyer fan, I found your article very interesting. You made some valid points, and I think you were pretty fair. I am curious as to which Heyers you actually read, besides The Grand Sophy.