Ruritanian Romance
A
Ruritanian Romance is a story set in an imaginary Middle European or East European country, such as the
Ruritania that gave the genre its name, in a time contemporary to the author.
The popularity of the
Graustark novels led to this genre also being called
Graustarkian Romances.
Such stories are typically
swashbuckling tales of high
romance, featuring adventure, romance, and intrigue, centered on the upper classes. The themes of
honor,
loyalty, and
love predominate, and the books frequently feature the restoration of kings to the throne.
Although recognizable Ruritanian Romances (such as
Robert Louis Stevenson's
Prince Otto) were written prior to
Anthony Hope's
The Prisoner of Zenda, it set the type with its adventure restoring the rightful king to the throne and produced a period of popular fiction:
George Barr McCutcheon's Graustark novels,
Frances Hodgson Burnett's
The Lost Prince,
Andre Norton's
The Prince Commands.
The genre was widely spoofed and parodied, as well.
George Bernard Shaw's
Arms and the Man parodied many elements.
Dorothy Sayers's
Have His Carcase featured as the murder victim a man deceived by his murderers because of his foolish belief in his royal ancestry, fed by endless reading of Ruritanian Romances.
The popularity of the genre declined after the first part of the twentieth century. Beside the usual effect of fashion, the royalist elements of Ruritanian element became less plausible as many European kings receded from even memory to become parts of history, and restorations grew less likely.
The genre was later spoofed in both the film and novel of
The Princess Bride with the fake European countries of Gilder and and Florin.
Many elements of the genre have been transplanted into
fantasy worlds, particularly those of
fantasy of manners and
alternate history. These stories are sometimes still referred to as Graustarkian or Ruritanian .
*
Robert Louis Stevenson's Prince Otto*
Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Lost Prince
