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Summer is a season associated with warmth, relaxation, adventure and romance. At this time of year, readers often turn to romantic literature as the perfect escape from everyday life. Whether on holiday or at home, we have compiled a list of romantic literature for you to fall in love with this summer.
From Chivalric tales and Shakespearean Sonnets to lyrical ballads the Romance novels, love has long been embedded within literary culture. Though Romance was not classed as a genre of its own until the late 18th Century, writings about love have been traced as far back as Ancient Greece.
Today, Romance novels are often seen as light hearted holiday reads or intense, steamy stories. In the past, such novels were much darker, exploring passion, obsession and a fascination with the mystical.
This blog explores romantic literature in all its forms, ranging from Shakespeare’s famed Sonnets in the 15th and 16th Centuries to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca in the 1930s, and everything in between.
“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.”
Sense and Sensibility tells of the impoverished Dashwood family, forced to leave their family home due to an inheritance law and move into a meagre Devonshire cottage. Duality plays a major role in Austen’s charming and satirical novel. A dichotomy is created between ‘sense’ and ‘sensibility’ (rationality and passion) which are embodied by the two eldest Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Neither reason or passion can succeed on their own and the sisters learn to experience both in their pursuit of love and happiness.
“In my heart I love her all the time.”
Fitzgerald’s timeless masterpiece is both a love story and an exploration of the beauty and tragedy of the American Dream. Narrator Nick Carraway tells the story of his millionaire neighbour, Jay Gatsby and the extravagant parties he throws at his Long Island mansion during the summer of 1922. These lavish parties are designed to show off his wealth and lure in the woman he loves. Yet Gatsby stands apart from his guests: rich, self-absorbed, mysterious. The author places the glitz, glamour and romance of the Jazz Age beneath a cynical lens, exposing the false idealisms of the American Dream and of Gatsby’s wealth and obsessive passions.
“I am always in love.”
Hemingway’s exploration of love, loss, moral bankruptcy and disillusionment is as brilliant as ever in The Sun also Rises. He draws readers into the story, making every emotion, event and place feel startlingly real. The novel is a love story between protagonist Jake Barnes and the beautiful Lady Brett Ashley. Their relationship is troubled, partially impacted by a war wound which makes Jake unable to have sex. Set in post-war France and then Spain, the novel presents Hemingway’s views about the Lost Generation and the disillusionment of the World War One era.
“You should be kissed and by someone who knows how.”
Gone with the Wind is not just an epic love story. It is also a powerful anti-war novel. Set during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era, it tells of slavery, starvation and rape as well as love. First the unrequited love of Scarlett O’Hara for married man Ashley Wilkes, then her passionate, unrealised love for the dashing Rhett Butler. Volatile and tempestuous, their relationship is one of the most famous in literature. Mitchell’s timeless story of survival and tragedy, loss and love under the southern sun is one you won’t be able to help falling in love with this summer.
“I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love.”
Though this is a gothic story is filled with jealousy and darkness, it is also a tale of love. Love that blossoms in Monaco one summer in the 1930s between the unnamed narrator and the recently widowed Maxim de Winter. The ghost of his late wife, Rebecca, haunts his new marriage to the novel’s narrator who becomes the new Mrs de Winter. The book carries a sense of nostalgia, for summertime, for the rhododendrons, for tea on the lawn beneath the chestnut tree, and for innocent love uncomplicated by past histories.
“Your love for each other showing in every look and word, even when you didn't know it.”
Unlike other novels on this list, Anne’s House of Dreams takes an optimistic view of love. The fifth book in Montgomery’s beloved ‘Anne’ series, it follows Anne Shirley in her life as a married woman, living in a small cottage on the shores of Four Winds Harbor. For readers who already know Anne, the orphan mistakenly sent in place of a boy to live at Green Gables, to join her now feels somewhat nostalgic. Though there are touches of sadness, as in the real world, this book is filled with love, hope, happiness and dreams and is the perfect book to fall in love with this summer.
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
Shakespeare’s sonnets consider love in all its forms, both as an expression of friendship and passion and of desire and obsession. His first sonnets introduce the ‘Fair Youth’, an unidentified figure with whom he seems to share a deep and loving friendship. His later sonnets present a far more pessimistic view of love with his introduction of the Dark Lady. Romance becomes bitter and hopeless and the Dark Lady the object of obsession and desire. Beautifully written and strikingly poignant, Shakespeare’s famous sonnets are perfect for summertime reading.
Whether on holiday or at home, why not fall in love with a romantic read this summer? Courtship, marriage, desire and unrequited love, imagined by many centuries of writers, fill the pages of these timeless classics.
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