Romance is "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents", a narrative method that contrasts with the modern, main tradition of the novel, which realistically depicts life. Walter Scott describes romance as a "kindred term" to the novel, and many European languages do not distinguish between them (e.g., "le roman, der Roman, il romanzo" in French, German, and Italian, respectively). There is a second type of romance: love romances in genre fiction, where the primary focus is on love and marriage. The term "romance" is now mainly used to refer to this type, and for other fiction it is "now chiefly archaic and historical" (OED). Works of fiction such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre combine elements from both types. Although early stories of historical romance often took the form of the romance, the terms "romance novel" and "historical romance" are confusing, because the words "romance" and "romantic" have held multiple meanings historically: referring to either romantic love or "the character or quality that makes something appeal strongly to the imagination, and sets it apart from [...] everyday life"; this latter sense is associated with "adventure, heroism, chivalry, etc." (OED), and connects the romance form with the Romantic movement, and the gothic novel, as well as the medieval romance tradition, though the genre has a long history that includes the ancient Greek novel. In addition to Walter Scott other romance writers (as defined by Scott) include the Brontës, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Victor Hugo, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Thomas Hardy. Later examples are, Joseph Conrad, John Cowper Powys, J. R. R. Tolkien and A. S. Byatt. Source: Wikipedia (en)