Bonkbuster

Bonkbuster (a play on "blockbuster" and the verb "to bonk") is a term coined in 1988 by British writer Sue Limb to describe a subgenre of commercial romance novels in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as their subsequent miniseries adaptations.[1][2][3] In 2002 the Oxford English Dictionary recognized this portmanteau, defining it as "a type of popular novel characterized by frequent explicit sexual encounters between the characters."[1] In 2016 Jilly Cooper, who was called "the queen of the bonkbuster",[4] suggested that the term ought to be updated to "shagbusters" as "bonk" felt out-of-date.[5]

Genre history

Although the term has been used generally to describe "bodice-rippers" such as Forever Amber (1944) by Kathleen Winsor,[6] as well as the novels of Jacqueline Susann[7][8] and Harold Robbins,[9] it is specifically associated with the novels of Judith Krantz, Jackie Collins, Shirley Conran and Jilly Cooper, known for their glamorous, financially independent female protagonists and salacious storylines.[10] In particular, Krantz’s novel Scruples, which describes the glamorous and affluent world of high fashion in Beverly Hills, California, helped define the bonkbuster.[11] In 2023 former British prime minister Rishi Sunak revealed that some of his favourite books were bonkbusters in the Rutshire Chronicles series by Jilly Cooper.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b The Telegraph, 18 February 2002 Accessed 2007-11-11.
  2. ^ Sydney Morning Herald, 19 June 2002 Accessed 2007-11-11.
  3. ^ "Bonk word that bust convention". the Guardian. June 18, 2002.
  4. ^ Moses, Claire (17 October 2024). "Jilly Cooper on Adapting Her Naughty Romance, 'Rivals,' for Disney+". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  5. ^ Flood, Alison (2016-09-10). "Jilly Cooper: 'People were always coming up to us at parties and asking us to bed'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
  6. ^ "Observer review: Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor". the Guardian. July 27, 2002.
  7. ^ "Sex in the suburbs: a history of the bonkbuster in six books". the Guardian. July 28, 2012.
  8. ^ Haines, Chris (October 1, 1997). "Media Circus". Salon.
  9. ^ Cummins, Anthony (May 21, 2016). "Harold Robbins's cocaine-fuelled bonkbusters sold 750 million copies — and they're far better than Fifty Shades". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  10. ^ "How the bonkbuster novel came to define a generation". The Independent. August 17, 2019.
  11. ^ "Judith Krantz, Novelist Who Wrote Tales of Sex and Shopping, Dies at 91". Bloomberg. June 23, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2019 – via www.bloomberg.com.
  12. ^ "UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak loves a horsey "bonkbuster."". Literary Hub. 2023-05-25. Retrieved 2025-06-06.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.