Friday, May 1, 2015

Love, Actually..."Might Have Been's' and "Star-Crossed"

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For my January and February posts I featured a short story, Bird Of Passage.

Now, any story is what it is, but one important aspect of Bird Of Passage is that it's a tale of love that "might-have-been."

Another story I posted on my own blog during March, Ithaca, features enduring love and also mother love.

Both stories got me thinking about how many different kinds of love there are, in fiction as in real life — so I thought I'd take a closer look at romantic love in particular over the new few months, including examples from my own fiction.

Starting today with "might-have-been's" first cousin, Star-Crossed Love.

Literature's most famous example would have to be the original star-crossed pair, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;"


One of the lesser themes of The Gathering Of The Lost is another star-crossed pair, Ghiselaine of Ormond and Audin Sondargent. Descended from states that (not unlike the Montagues and Capulets) have only recently declared peace after generations of war, they may fall in love but not marry:

"Yet after a few miles ... Audin dropped back to ride beside Ghiselaine. At first they did not look at each other, until Audin reached across and covered Ghiselaine's hand with his own. She did turn her head, then, and Carick looked away from what he saw in her expression..."

Perhaps the ultimate star-crossed couple of recent times is Buffy and Angel, from the television series Buffy. Vampire Slayer, Buffy, and reformed vampire, Angel, fall deeply in love but can never be together because Angel is cursed: if he knows a moment of true happiness he will revert to his former evil ways.

So how about you? Do you have a favorite star-crossed pair in literature or on the silver screen?


2 comments:

Kim Falconer said...

I love this topic, Helen. Literature and film is rich with variations on this theme.
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake was a strong example of the R & J trope. He was a ghost hunter, she a ghost.

I'm also enjoying a new series on the CW called iZombie. She wakes up dead and can't risk infecting the love of her life with the 'disease'. It's done in a DC comic style. Procedural, and clever.

As a classic, I love the story of Psyche and Eros found in Lucius Apuleius "The Golden Ass." There are translations online. Beautiful mythology!

Great post. Thank you Helen!

Helen Lowe said...

You're right, Kim -- the challenge with "Star Crossed" was where to stop! I wasn't sure whether Catherine and Heathcliff counted but they have to be contenders, right? Black Widow and The Hulk in the Avengers films might be skirting the same territory, too...