Buildings, books, and memories: Analysing the culture of reading anglophone romance in Pakistan

Abstract

The practice by Pakistani women of reading anglophone romance-genre novels set in Regency-era England is rooted in the cultural memory of their colonial past. The Regency-era past provides a credible space for the romantic imagination that takes on distinctive postcolonial nuances in Pakistan. The readers involved in this research shared a fascination with the buildings around them that were constructed during the British Raj, and the experience of reading old, browned copies of Georgette Heyer novels. The materiality of the romance genre in Pakistan informs and reinforces readers’ disposition to regard Regency-era historical novels as sociocultural capital. The study elaborates that these readers create a form of positive postcolonial nostalgia by finding parallels between Regency-era England and aspects of contemporary Pakistani society. This perceived similarity is rooted in the patriarchal social structures and archaic cultural practices that persist in 21st-century Pakistan, making the historical setting more relatable to them.