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Article: The End of the Novel of Love.
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- February 13, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Vivian Gornick has a clear thesis; she embodies it in the title, and summarizes it at the end of her book: "Put romantic love at the center of a novel today, and who could be persuaded that in its pursuit the characters are going to get something large?...that we will all learn something important....No one, it seems to me. Today, I think, love as a metaphor is an act of nostalgia, not of discovery."
The End of the Novel of Love is remarkable and seductive. In the first place Gornick writes exceptionally well; her lucidity, the subtle elegance and highly crafted intimacy of tone, carry a weight of conviction. The aesthetic pleasure that I experienced inclines me to ...