Raging Romantics
#31 Getting Curious About Amish Romance Novels
Jen and Jackie dive into a world where they easily admit they have absolutely NO experience...the world of Amish romances. Despite the fact that both of your favorite librarians both grew up in Amish and farming country, neither of them have EVER READ A BOOK THAT FEATURES AN AMISH SET OF CHARACTERS. This month, they're rectifying that. Follow along for the ride as we hitch up the buggy and head out to the farm.
Books/authors we mention:
- Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels (Weaver-Zurcher, 2013)
- Sabina: Story of the Amish by Helen Reimensnyder Martin (1905)
- Beverly Lewis
- Linda Byler (Amish author)
- Cindy Woodsmall
- Wanda Brunstetter
- Clara Bernice Miller
- Tracie Peterson
- The Wish by Patricia Davids
- Kimberley Woodhouse
- (Jackie mistakenly named this author as Tracey; also Woodhouse writes gentle Christian, not Amish)
- Dokiri Brides series by Denali Day (wyverns/barbarians/closed-door romance)
Terms:
- "Clean," "Sweet," "Nice," or "Closed-Door," romance - a romance that does not feature on-page intimacy
- The Ordnung - The unwritten set of rules and regulations that guide everyday Amish life
- Protestant Reformation
- Anabaptist -A religious movement grew out of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s and believed that adults should be baptized instead of infants, and reformers should have been much harder on the Catholic Church
- Gelassenheit - “submission,” a belief that includes simplicity, humility, thrift, obedience, and accepting the will of higher authorities. The Amish ideal is humility, in contrast to the modern ideal of personal fulfillment
- Theory of the Golden Age
- Hypermodernity - excessive technological and socio-economic exploitation characteristic of late stage capitalism
- Hypersexuality - Officially, hypersexuality is used in reference to a clinical diagnosis of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder; however, in the sense of this podcast, Jen and Jackie use it in reference to the perceived view that America is "obsessed" with sexual depictions and the increasing availability of sexually-charged materials both visual and written, and the countermovement that have arisen in opposition to this perception.
- Swartzentruber Amish - a specific sect of the Amish that value traditional beliefs and practices
- The Kapp -The white or black head covering Amish females wear, also known as the prayer covering
Podcasts Jackie listened to:
- Whoa!mance Episode 84: Amish Romance (Entrop[e]y #1) — The Wish by Patricia Davids
- diyMFA Radio with Gabriela Pereira Episode 250: Crafting an Amish Romance — Interview with Patricia Davids
- Trust Me episodes 40/41 Torah Bontrager- Growing Up Amish part 1 and part 2
Sources:
- "Bonnet Rippers: The Rise of the Amish Romance Novel" (Weaver-Zercher, 2013)
- "Fifty Shades of Amish: A Strange Genre of the Romance Novel" (Goodman, 2015)
- "Carrie Bradshaw -- in a Bonnet?" (Wright & Brown, 2009)
- "Amish" (Kraybill, N.D.)
- "Amish Origins" (Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College)
- "Amish in America" (PBS, 2012)
- "Why Amish Romance Novels Are So Popular" (Lattier, 2018)
- "Bonnets, Buggies and Sexual Abuse" (DeMuth, 2013)
- "Hot Under the Bonnet: The Cooptation of Amish Culture in Mass-Market Fiction" (DeCoursey, 2014)
- West Nickel Mines School Shooting