[Ads-l] cinnamon rolls & golden retrievers

[George Thompson]

A recent opinion piece in the Guardian directed me to an article in
Publishers' Weekly, on new trends in Romantic Novels.  Each is identified
by a term not in the OED.

In the parlance of romance novels, a “cinnamon roll” is a sweet,
supportive, and kind hero—the anti–Christian Grey. The phrase alludes to a
2014 *Onion* headline, “Beautiful Cinnamon Roll Too Good for This World,
Too Pure,” and has come to represent a subgenre of books that push back on
toxic masculinity. “More readers are asking for ‘cinnamon rolls’ and
‘golden retrievers,’ ” says Kaitlin Olson, senior editor at Atria; the
latter refers to a romantic lead with a warm, floppy energy and positive
attitude.


I surmise that this development will have Tucker Carlson wetting himself
with anxiety and dismay.  Please note: this is only a surmise.  Still, I
hope he doesn't subscribe to PW or follow ADS-L.

As a side note: 30 years ago, maybe more, as the guy at my library
responsible for the collection of literature in English, I undertook to
bring it about that the reference collection would have whatever
encyclopedias, bibliographies, and so forth were available in the various
sub-fields of popular literature.  And this led me to look for the fan
magazines for readers of such stuff.  It turned out that there were then
two magazines devoted to romantic novels: Romantic Times and Affaire du
Couer.  The latter was from California, but Romantic Times was from
Brooklyn, four or five miles from where I lived.  So on a mid-week day off,
I took my usual long walk in that direction -- but they wouldn't let me
in.  When I went back, on another day, chaperoned by my wife, they talked
briefly with me, but to little benefit.
As I recall, the office of Romantic Times was in South Brooklyn.  My
father, an old-time Brooklyn guy and a sea-faring man, regarded South
Brooklyn as an area filled with tough and violent men.  Why, perhaps, they
wouldn't open the door to me, until I was properly escorted.
It also appeared that, at that time, no research library kept back files of
either magazine.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998.

But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
your lowly tomb. . .
L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems.  Boston, 1827, p. 112

The Trump of Doom -- also known as The Dunghill Toadstool.  (Here's a
picture of his great-grandfather.)

https://heritagecollections.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/HOP_WOA_3851

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