THE BEST LOVERS (according to the Penguin List)
A Room with a View
E. M. Forster
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
Don Juan
Lord Byron Byron and his alter-ego were a couple of promiscuous show-offs as far as I’m concerned. Can anyone name the female of the this suppposed pair of “best lovers”? Case closed.
Love In A Cold Climate
Nancy Mitford I read the description of this one at Amazon, and if this is love I can do without it.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Tennessee Williams A Southern sexpot in love with an alcoholic? This qualifies as “best lovers”?
Best Lovers (according to Semicolon)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Yes. Heathcliff and Cathy were actually the worst of lovers –capricious, unfaithful while remaining bonded to one another, but let’s not quibble. “I am Heathcliff!” says Cathy, and what better description of the marriage of two souls is there in literature?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane and Mr. Rochester are as radically faithful and loving in their own way as Cathy and Heathcliff imagine themselves to be. And they actually get together before they die, surely an advantage for lovers.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy are the epitome of lovers in tension that finally leads to consummation.
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane are such a hesitant, battle-scarred pair of lovers that thye almost don’t get together at all, but that’s what makes the series of romance-within-a mystery novels that culminates in Gaudy Night so very romantic. They’ve used the same formula in TV series ever since, but Sayers is much better than any Remington Steele (Laura and Remington) or Cheers (Sam and Diane). And Ms. Sayers was even able to write a credibly interesting epilogue novel in Busman’s Honeymoon, which is better than the TV writers can do most of the time.
At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon. Who says love is only for the young? Father Tim and Cynthia make it through thick and thin and through five or six books, still in love, still throwing quotations at one another. They’re great lovers in the best sense of the word.
I am female. I see the words “best lovers,” and I read “best romance.” Then I think of the most romantic courtships and marriages in literature and throw them into a list. Byron’s Don Juan and Tennessee Williams’ Brick and Maggie are not romantic, although they may very well be great literature.
So whom do you nominate for the Best, Most Romantic Lovers in Literature?
I don’t know, but I am currently slugging through Wuthering Heights, about a chapter a night (at about 18). I’m making myself read it before I watch a movie version.
The language, writing…incredible. Yes, the scene before Catherine dies, incredibly passionate. But I’m only halfway through and the female lover is dead. What else can happen? I know many people know that answer and I want to, as well. So I keep plugging away.
I like your list better. I read the first list and thought immediately: “Hey, where are Elizabeth and Darcy?”
I vote for Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, two crusty souls who are surprised and (hesitatingly) delighted to discover love through their intellectual, crisp and scathing banter. They take the match-making and ribbing of their friends and family good-naturedly, and Benedick’s passionate vows to avenge the slander against Beatrice’s cousin are sweet and moving. Benedick tells Beatrice, “We are too wise to woo,” but I have always adored their witty flirting, written as only Shakespeare can. Unlike many of his heroines, Beatrice is feisty, dynamic, and not simply the weaker half of a male counterpart. And Benedick is worthy of Beatrice’s attentions (though sort of a cad initially, he cleans up well!).
Actually, it’s a scenario not unlike Darcy and Elizabeth, come to think of it!
From your recommendation, I’m going to look for Gaudy Night. Thanks!
Cheers,
Shane Marie
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