Lyst(op)læsning: Forførende højtlæsning og bogromantik med Jane Austen og Blanche Stories

Following recent years’ “audiobook boom”, audio fiction apps have emerged that focus on romantic and erotic content. The article examines how the audio format and its associated uses shape or reshape existing concepts of romantic fiction. Focusing on the case of the app Blanche Stories, the article analyzes new romantic texts, written for the app, along with older texts, love letters, and excerpts from classics, which are adapted into sound. Drawing on theories on “bookishness” (Pressman), along with established work in audiobook and romance studies, it is argued that a “romantization” of literary tradition and book culture takes place in the app: partly through the way book culture is represented in the new romantic texts, and partly through the selection and adaptation of older texts in the app. At the same time, the audio format is also used in the app to reinterpret the texts and adapt them to modern uses of audiobooks, following the app’s goal of providing a “15 minutes of pleasure” in everyday life.