Reading the Romance, Building the Bestseller: A Q-Technique Study of Reader Response to The Bridges of Madison County

Abstract

Based on a reader response case study of Robert Waller's astonishingly
popular romance novel, the research reported here demonstrates not only
that readers' subjective experience of the same text can and do vary
dramatically but also how it is that such understandings, in their
naturalistic condition, are amenable to public inspection and reliable
calibration as operant factors. In the course of the case study, the
"convergently selective" character of the appeal of Waller's all-time
bestselling romance is addressed in light of the four factors our
analysis uncovers as alternative constructions of the novel and its
meaning. The four factors are seen as comprising the subjective
foundations of a "conversational structure," energized by diverse
constituent sentiments and their interaction, in a manner that is
generally playful and pleasurable, albeit in different ways, to parties
in the conversation. Implications for enhanced understanding of the mass
appeal of Waller's work, and for reinvigorating reader response
research more broadly, are discussed.