Romantic Love: A Literary Universal?

Abstract

To love someone romantically is—at least according to innumerable literary works, much received wisdom, and even a gradually coalescing academic consensus—to experience a strong desire for union with someone who is deemed entirely unique. It is to idealize this person, to think constantly about him or her, and to discover that one’s own priorities in life have changed dramatically. It is to care deeply for that person’s well-being and to feel pain or emptiness when he or she is absent.

This research was originally published in Philosophy and Literature 30 (2006): 450–470. Marcus Nordlund, Goteborg University, coauthored this chapter. Liana Boop, Lance Branch, Daniel DeLorme, Mackenzie Ewing, John Forrette, Jared Fostveit, Erica Guralnick, Julia Jones, Sarah MacFarland, Maia Moyer, Kevin O’Connor, Spencer Paige, Ann Sargent, Linnea Smolentzov, Michael Stafford, Adam Tapply, Lindsey Taylor, and Sammie-Jo Therrien contributed to this research.