Defending Barbara Cartland

The first book I read in French was a translation of a Barbara Cartland romance, because I could breeze through the simplicity of the language. Called the Queen of Romance novels, she is often disparaged for that reason. I disagree, even though it is not a genre that attracts me. Or lets say, there are so many other types I want to read.

Cartland wrote 723 novels and sold over 750 million copies. She was the fifth most translated writer in the world (excluding the Bible). Like her or not, the volume of both her work and her sales means she has brought a lot of pleasure to millions of women, quite an accomplishment. 

I'll admit I'm a Ph.D. dropout, but if I were still going for the title of Dr. Nelson, I think I'd like to do my thesis on the structure of Cartland's novels. My Master's thesis was on repeated symbolism in John Irving's novels and the analysis greatly helped me fine tune my own writing craft. It taught me how the same idea, character, setting, etc. could be used in more than one book.

How would I go about the Cartland doctoral thesis? 

As a start I would do a speed read on as many of the novels as I could, carefully being aware of the years of publication and do a tally on:

• Names of characters whether ordinary or exotic
• Ages, how many people are 20 21, 22, etc.
• The average age of the main characters, good, bad and in between
• Educational level of the main characters
• Talents and skills of main characters good, bad and in between
• Hair color
• Eye color
• Ethnic backgrounds
• Problems faced by the heroine broken down into categories  
• Gunning Fogg  Index in early, middle and late years  of her work to see what level of reading ability is need to comfortably read the selection. Did it change?  (I do this test on my own writing periodically).
• Type of problem that stops the heroines from succeeding
• The solutions to the problems the heroines uses to overcome the problems 
• Break the type of plots into categories and count them
• Locations  

I'm not going for a Ph.D., and I'm working on a new novel while marketing my non-fiction, 300 Unsung Women about those who overcame gender barriers to fulfill their dreams. 

That my days are filled and often end long before I've accomplished my to-do list makes Cartland's work all the more amazing. She was not limited to romances. She also wrote:

• Biographies
• Plays
• Music
• Poems
• Dramas
• Operettas
• Health books
• Cookbooks
• Articles

How she found time to cram all that into one life, even if she did live to be 98, I have no idea. 

Even if I'm not the biggest fan of Cartland's books, I do like well-written Chick Lit when the characters are interesting and deal with problems real people handle (no Shopping Novels but I read almost every other kind of book).  

Before my first book was published and the rejections were piling up, I resented writers like Cartland. I felt that my writing was as good if not a lot better.  Now, I just appreciate that each writer finds his or her own path. Cartland's output was more than a path. It was an interstate six-lane highway system. 

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