After decades of feminism and deconstruction, romance remains firmly in place as a central preoccupation in the lives of most women. Romance is still the most compelling discourse by which any one of us is inscribed. In this newly commisioned critical collection, romance is revisited across the discipllines, not just in fiction and film but in a whole range of cultural phenomena. Essays range over such issues as the royal marriage, Valentine's Day, 'interracial' relationships and the romance of the scientific quest. All kinds of relationships are brought under the lens of feminist cultural theory - from sex and the single nun to Yukio Mishima, from snuglet puglet to safe sex.