Love and Romance in Literature

Posted by on Feb 6, 2015 | 12 comments

Love and Romance in Literature

This week I take a look at love and romance in literature. I hope you enjoy the quotes from some of my favorite romances. At the end you’ll have an opportunity to win a copy of my contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams! Enjoy!

 

 

Fabulous Fridays

There is a debate in Christian circles about whether romance novels set readers up for disappointment. Critics say that the genre as a whole portrays an unrealistic picture of love, creating expectations in women that no man can meet. A hopeless romantic myself, I looked back at some classic love stories from the past to see the differences.

 

Being a lover of the classics, I Googled romantic lines from classic literature, and discovered some interesting differences and similarities between romance in the “days of old,” and many Christian romances of today.

 

Most romance novels, old or new, have the basic “boy meets girl; boy and girl like each other but an obstacle standsValentines day background in the way; the obstacle is overcome and they live happily ever after” kind of plots.

 

A good example of an obstacle is Pride and Prejudice. When Darcy first professes his love for Lizzie, “In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” She completely rejects him, not admitting until the end of the story that she loves him too.

 

In my personal favorite, Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester confesses: “I have for the first time found what I can truly love–I have found you. You are my sympathy–my better self–my good angel…” Tragedy separates them for a while, but in the end, Jane and Edward Fairfax Rochester are reunited.

 

Many of the most romantic lines ever written come from stories which ended tragically, for example, Romeo and Juliet. Another with a tragic bent is seen in Wuthering Heights and Catherine Earnshaw’s confession about her feelings for Heathcliff: “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger...

 

Likewise, Heathcliff, that tortured soul, finds himself without the only person in the universe that he is capable of loving: “Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”

 

Not all modern romances end happily either, for example, The Notebook, where we discover the entire book has been a husband telling his Alzheimer’s-stricken wife their own love story.

 

In the classics, with few exceptions, romance signifies the “romantic,” not sex. Love is expressed in words, thoughts, and deeds, not physical passion. Love not equated with sex is rarely seen today, outside of Christian romance, or what is called, “sweet romance.”

 

If the viewpoint of the romance genre seems incompatible with love today, perhaps it is because Christian romance writers strive for what love was intended to be by its Creator, in a world where more than half of all marriages end in divorce. God intended love to have a happy ending. Human beings messed it up.

 

In my search through romantic quotes, perhaps the one which most truly captures the essence of love comes from Anne of Avonlea, by Lucy Maud Montgomery: “Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways… perhaps…love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.”

 

Our world has lost the understanding that love and romance isn’t about fireworks and feeling good. Love is about sticking together through thick and thin, dirty diapers, lost jobs, and disappointments and temptation, and staying together anyway. It’s about committing to one another for better or worse.

 

When we can’t find that forever kind of love in life because of man’s sinful, fallen nature, we turn to romance, in the hope that somewhere in the world love still lasts for a lifetime. And it does—in those who hold true to God’s plan and in romance novels.

 

Land of My Dreams book blurb:

Alone and betrayed, American professor, Bonny Bryant longs for a haven of peace. She accepts a position at a small Christian college in Fort William, Scotland, craving escape from her painful past. The passionate love which develops when she meets fellow professor and sheep farmer, Kieran MacDonell, is something she never anticipated.

 

Land of My Dreams cover smKieran harbors a deep anger toward God in the face of his own devastating grief. When Bonny’s former fiancé reenters her life, Kieran’s loneliness draws him to a former student.

 

How will Bonny decide between her rivals? Can they set aside the past to make way for a future, or will it drive them apart?

 

Land of My Dreams spans the distance between New Mexico’s high desert mountains and the misty Scottish Highlands with a timeless story of overwhelming grief, undying love, and compelling faith.

 

About the author:Norma - LoMD 2014

Norma Gail’s contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams, released in 2014. She is a Bible study leader, and writes devotionals for ChristianDevotions.us, StitchesthruTime blog, and “The Secret Place.” She belongs to American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America, and the New Mexico Christian Novelists. She is married and has two adult children.

 Connect with Norma:

www.normagail.org

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorNormaGail

https://plus.google.com/b/102717101441594679714/+Normagail/about/p/pub

http://pinterest.com/normagailth/boards/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7874459.Norma_Gail

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/norma-gail-thurston-holtman/42/71a/3b2

https://twitter.com/Norma_Gail

Norma’s Book Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Land-My-Dreams-Norma-Gail/dp/1941103170/ or

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/land-of-my-dreams-norma-gail/1119606864 ?ean=9781941103173

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas Bookstore: http://store.lpcbooks.com/product/land-of-my-dreams/

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12 Comments

  1. I love the blurb and I love to read about Scotland. I find this book really interesting.

    • Thanks, Irma! I appreciate you taking time to comment!

      • Thank you! Thank you for giving us all a chance to participate in your giveaway also!

    • Thank you for your interest, Irma. Please note that giveaways of print books are limited to US residents only. This is clearly stated on the Rafflecopter Terms & Conditions. I am sorry, it is not economically feasible to mail books to other countries. Please continue to watch as I will be offering some giveaways of Kindle copies in the near future.

  2. Sounds a beautiful story and sine is Scotland i’m in. Thank you for this giveaway always love to read new authors.

    • Thank you for stopping by and commenting! I appreciate it!

      • Thank you for the privilage to read your work.

  3. Great article about romance literature. I love Christian love stories because I don’t have to read about inappropriate actions. They might be alluded to but not detailed. Thank you for all this great information. Your book sounds wonderful and I would love to win a copy.

  4. I agree with you. So many of those great classic romances also made gave God and his laws a prominent place, such as Jane Eyre and North and South and Middlemarch.

    • Thanks for taking time to comment, Hillary!

  5. Congratulations to Robin Bunting on winning the print copy of Land of My Dreams!

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