As the heartening glow of Christmas thaws, we look forwards to Valentine’s day as the next ‘holiday’ on the calendar to cheer our spirits. Unless, of course you happen to be lacking in love come February 14th…
In which case, fellow student, it is time to turn for books! Love has always been a favourite topic of writers, whether wanting to tell their own adventures of the heart or exploring the darker, deeper – or simply unrealistic – aspects of fictional passions.
Romeo and Juliet, for example, emphasizes the benefits of taking a relationship slowly. Having met a girl (only fourteen years old, I should add) for no longer than five minutes at a party is no justification for breaking and entering, eloping, murdering followed by accidental mutual suicide.
Yet, those crazy Veronans were much more rock and roll than Jane Austen. Her Pride and Prejudice is a beautiful and nuanced novel. Glances here, passing remarks there, and in the centre of it a perfect man who will not hesitate to propose twice. A thousand sighs and some laughter, this book will make you understand that to make someone love you, you just have to make them think you hate them.
Compare that to Wuthering Heights. With perhaps as much angst as Romeo and Juliet, but played out over the span of a few life times. Set, not too far from fair old York, the harsh Yorkshire moors mirror the turbulent relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff. A love story so potent, it became a Kate Bush hit.
There has always been an appeal in British literature to have a love story that plays ith class boundaries. Whether this Valentines day you are secretly admiring a prince or a pauper, bear in mind the adventure of Pip from Dickens’s Great Expectations. Manipulated by old and fading spinster Miss Havisham (and others), Pip finds himself blindly following the love of the distant Estella through the social ranks of London.
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy is a noticibly more rural tale. Bathsheba is a woman thrurt into a life running a farm. Suddenly she finds herself dealing with the advances of three men, the reckless Sargeant Troy, fellow farm owner Mr. Baldwood, and the dependable but modest farm manager Gabriel Oak.
‘Still a better love story that Twilight’ has become a rather mean meme of late. Yes throughout the second novel, all you want to do is vigourously shake Bella and tell her to just get over the fact her boyfriend had to leave because he was too worried about accidentally eating her. Having said that, you cannot deny that Twilight has had massive appeal, even if the issues of ‘Alien’ vampire babies eating you from the inside is not a concern most relationships inspire.