Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Blog Hop: Top Ten Literary Love Stories

(Nearly) Unrequited Love: Florentino Ariza for Fermina Daza in Love in the Time of Cholera neck and neck with Cyrano for Roxanne in Cyrano De Bergerac.  Only the soulless could fail to be moved.


Tainted Love: The Vicompte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil (and their love-targets as well) in Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's infamous epistolary novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses.  The memorable epitome of twisted passions.



Selfless Love: Mundo Cani Dog, the perenially depressed, woeful, and timid soul who does something I can't tell you about because it would be a major spoiler, in The Book of the Dun Cow. If you haven't sampled Walter Wangerin's American Book Award winning fable-fantasy, you should, if only for Mundo Cani alone. I'm planning to pick up one of the newer editions to reread this year too.

Familial Love: Tom and Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath.  Mother Earth births the Embodiment of Selfless Service to Humanity. Big Love Ensues. (Not that sort of big love, people.)

Enduring Romantic Love:
Janie and Tea Cake make this seeming paradox ring true in T heir Eyes Were Watching God.

Transcendent, Illuminated Love: The poets Kahlil Gibran (The Prophet) and Jalal Al-Din Rumi (esp. The Illuminated Rumi, Coleman Barks, tr. & Michael Green, ill.).  Ecstatic love made visible.

Love of Friend: Gogo and Didi, the epitome of imperfect, enduring amity in Waiting for Godot, tied with Charlotte's and Wilbur's cross-species devotion in Charlotte's Web.

MFB,
L


And thanks as ever to The Broke and the Bookish for this latest blog hop.  Go check them out and find scores of additional book bloggers weighing in on the best love stories ever...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't do this blog hop, but if I had, Florentino and Fermina would definitely have been on my list--one of my top ten favorite books, for sure. For friend love, my first instinct is to say "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay," another of my all-time favorites.

Teacher/Learner said...

Aw, Charlotte's Web is a great love story, not only between Charlotte & Wilbur but Wilbur & Fern as well. Here's my top 10.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the way you approached this Top Ten Tuesday! :D What a great and diverse list :D

Laurie said...

Ah, true T/L: Wilbur and Fern. Thanks, Sarah, for the love. I rather enjoyed this one and felt pleased with the result (not always the case for us reader-writers, eh?). Jackie - My TBR list is growing, thanks to you: I'm the one who missed Kavalier & Clay when it came out, although I enjoyed Wonder Boys. Time to lengthen my library wish list...
L

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