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Romantic couples of Doom
Feb. 4th, 2008 07:30 pmI just read two threads worth of comments about romantic couples in literature, in the journals of Cassandra Clare and Justine Larbalestier, two YA authors I like a lot. Both threads are wayyyy too old for me to comment in at this point, so I'm indulging myself here.
(The threads in question:
http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/10265.html
http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/?p=675 )
So, romances that really work for me?
Cyrano de Bergerac and Roxanne in the Rostand play. *swoon*. I love that Cyrano is so stupid about it, and knows it, and can't stop himself.
Tristan and Iseult in the old courtly romance. Love potion required so that the adulterous passion isn't their fault. Absolutely yes to sequences of them trying to quell their passion by sleeping on two sides of a naked blade. And then she's got to swear to her chastity on the sacred relic and falls off in the stream and he carries her across in the guise of a beggarman. "My legs have never been around anyone except my husband, oh, and that beggarman who carried me across the stream." And she lives. And then it ends with briars entwined from their graves, of course.
Katchoo and Francine in "Strangers in Paradise" - because it's just so hard and so inevitable for them, and so fragile.
The unicorn and the prince in "The Last Unicorn" - because I like how love is tied to form in the story. I think that's tricky.
Swordfish and Cassandra in Wilhelmina Baird's cyberpunk trilogy - "Crashcourse," "Clipjoint," and "Psykosis." The thing wouldn't work without Moke, of course. Yay permanent awkward love triangle!
Tulip and Jesse in "Preacher" - I just love how Garth Ennis does comic romance. I'm a sucker for John Constantine and Kit too.
Eugenides and Irene in the Attolia books. I think that's one of the toughest, rawest relationships ever put into a series for young people. I remember finishing "The Queen of Attolia" and being so angry at those two, and then feeling compelled to read it twice more. "The King of Attolia" assuaged my feelings some, and then I had to go back and read the whole series again.
(The threads in question:
http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/10265.html
http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/?p=675 )
So, romances that really work for me?
Cyrano de Bergerac and Roxanne in the Rostand play. *swoon*. I love that Cyrano is so stupid about it, and knows it, and can't stop himself.
Tristan and Iseult in the old courtly romance. Love potion required so that the adulterous passion isn't their fault. Absolutely yes to sequences of them trying to quell their passion by sleeping on two sides of a naked blade. And then she's got to swear to her chastity on the sacred relic and falls off in the stream and he carries her across in the guise of a beggarman. "My legs have never been around anyone except my husband, oh, and that beggarman who carried me across the stream." And she lives. And then it ends with briars entwined from their graves, of course.
Katchoo and Francine in "Strangers in Paradise" - because it's just so hard and so inevitable for them, and so fragile.
The unicorn and the prince in "The Last Unicorn" - because I like how love is tied to form in the story. I think that's tricky.
Swordfish and Cassandra in Wilhelmina Baird's cyberpunk trilogy - "Crashcourse," "Clipjoint," and "Psykosis." The thing wouldn't work without Moke, of course. Yay permanent awkward love triangle!
Tulip and Jesse in "Preacher" - I just love how Garth Ennis does comic romance. I'm a sucker for John Constantine and Kit too.
Eugenides and Irene in the Attolia books. I think that's one of the toughest, rawest relationships ever put into a series for young people. I remember finishing "The Queen of Attolia" and being so angry at those two, and then feeling compelled to read it twice more. "The King of Attolia" assuaged my feelings some, and then I had to go back and read the whole series again.
