It’s that time of year again, when pundits come up with lists of the most important love stories of all time…You’ll often find these make the grade:
Romeo and Juliet (1597) by William Shakespeare
Anna Karenina (1877) by Leo Tolstoy
Doctor Zhivago (1957) by Boris Pasternak
Love Story (1970) by Erich Segal
The Notebook (1996) by Nicholas Sparks
Bridges of Madison County (1992) Robert James Waller
Cold Mountain (1997) Charles Fraizer
The Great Gatsby(1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
What do they have in common, dear readers? Here’s my list:
1.They are written by men
2. Things don’t end well.
Now, let’s consider:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)
Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte
Gone With The Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell
Yes. Written by women, and.... everybody gets to survive. Even the heroine of problematic Gone With the Wind is left with the Pandora’s Box gift of hope.
Why are there so many modern Jane Austen variations? So many sequels to popular HEA (Happy Ever After) romances? Why does Lizzy solve mysteries and the Bennet sisters battle zombies?
Because romantic happy ever afters are not dead ends of grief and regret (and, as in those crazy kids Romeo and Juliet: bad timing).
Happy Ever Afters leave us to imagine the future. Did the lovers make good parents? How did they handle the slings and arrows of life? Did they grow stronger together? In short, were they brave enough for their Happy Ever After?
So… give me Jane Austen’s Emma and and Lizzy. Give me Charlotte’s indomitable Jane, and Shakespeare’s Beatrice and Rosalind and Portia. They are brave enough to last through a long and wonderful life with their heroes.
Interesting side view here. I read early and anything I could get myhands on. In third grade I read Anna Karenina for a book report. Upset the teacher. Didn't upset my parents except I ended the report with a number of solutions as to how she did not need to die.
ReplyDeleteA born popular fiction novelist, Janet!!
DeleteI agree that a happy ending is a must for a good story. No matter how dire the circumstances, a good story should give hope, not depress the reader or the viewer. If the hero or heroine dies at the end, I never reread that book or re-watch that movie. Fiction should be uplifting, not depressing... at least for me.
ReplyDeleteI prefer HEA too, Vijaya. It seems that in our world, for a love story to be taken seriously, it has to be tragic. Why?
DeleteInteresting and humourous point about tragic love stories that are usually written by men. I admit I like most of the ones on your list, but the happy ending ones too. Good to have variety in stories to reflect varieties of life experiences.
ReplyDeleteTo me, romance must be HEA. I read for entertainment so do not want to be depressed, upset or thrown into a funk. There's enough woe and heartache in the news. I don't need it in my reading. I understand Susan's comment about varieties of life, but at least in my reading, I can choose. Thanks for the great insight.
ReplyDeleteI read to escape. I want a "feel-good" ending :)
ReplyDeleteMe too, I am a sucker for a happy ending. Hated Anna Karenina, for giving up as she did.
ReplyDelete