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What is the most conservative love story ever told?
Here is a symposium, courtesy of National Review. Do they understand any of these books, most of all the extreme perversity of Tolstoy? Jane Austen is praised for not having a kiss in the entire book. Maybe the Song of Solomon works as a pick. Free to Choose wasn't a bad selection either, or try their Two Lucky People. Don't they know that Rick sets up Ilsa at the end of Casablanca, just so her can reject her as an act of spite and malice? How about Romain Rolland's Jean-Christophe? Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea? Make your other selections in the comments, but the rapes in Atlas Shrugged rule that one out. Thanks to www.politicaltheory.info for the pointer.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on February 15, 2006 at 08:43 PM in Books | Permalink
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Comments
Lady Chatterly's Lover? Fear of Flying? Oh wait, this was the most _conservative_ love story. Never mind :)
Posted by: Peter at Feb 15, 2006 9:38:07 PM
Here's one that's a little "prudie":
After several years of searching for Mr. Right, I have met someone who holds great promise for a long-term relationship. He is a soft-spoken man who treats me with great respect. He's been a widower for many years, raising his children alone and doing a marvelous job. He's a hard worker, honest, and seems very smitten with me. We have a great deal in common including our profession, which has been a real challenge for me since I have a nontraditional job in agriculture.
Posted by: Collin at Feb 15, 2006 10:01:55 PM
I think that I have never seen a better example of how disparate the conceptions of "conservative" are.
Posted by: Stephen Duncan Jr at Feb 15, 2006 10:30:59 PM
"...most of all the extreme perversity of Tolstoy?"
Well, Medved's interpretation of AK is not quite my own. Perversity is not the word I would use, but perhaps "compassionate irony". Levin does not find God at the end of the novel, but finds a way of rationalizing away his spiritual ambitions. The End of AK is similar to the end of "Ivy Day in the Committee Room", but much less critical, more forgiving.
"What does it profiteth a man to gain the world yet lose his soul." has never been better analyzed than in the story of Levin in Anna Karenina. IMO, Tolstoy is saying that Levin is very nearly a perfect man with a perfect life and yet is still damned.
Posted by: bob mcmanus at Feb 15, 2006 10:45:58 PM
Hermann and Dorothea....you took the words right out of my mouth. 25 years have passed since I read it and nothing compares, in this area anyway.
Posted by: chris weber at Feb 16, 2006 5:48:50 AM
Tyler, the rape scene was "The Fountainhead". Dagny Taggart never even comes close to getting raped.
Posted by: Nathan at Feb 16, 2006 5:53:41 AM
Perversity in Tolstoy? What leads you to this conclusion in connection with War and Peace, Tyler? The end of War and Peace is resounding affirmation of true love deep mature romantic love with two couples, Natasha and Pierre and Nicolai and Maria, happly married. The novel's trajectory is the separate, somewhat circuitous (and in the case of Pierre and Natasha torturous), paths by which these four finally attain that happy state against the backdrop of the Napoleanic wars and social dynamics of eary 18th Century Russia. Yes, in his personal life, Tolstoy may have been perverse, but the ultimate lesson of War and Peace is a extremely salutory one from the perspective of the type of deep love that human beings are capable. It is a choice that I believe is beyond reproach from the perspective of conservative criteria, such as virtue, personal growth and casting off the foolishness of youth.
Posted by: DWG at Feb 16, 2006 9:58:38 AM
Gotta go with Family Happiness, by Tolstoy. Last paragraph:
That day ended the romance of our marriage; the old feeling became
a precious irrecoverable remembrance; but a new feeling of love for
my children and the father of my children laid the foundation of a
new life and a quite different happiness; and that life and happiness
have lasted to the present time.
Posted by: ostap at Feb 16, 2006 12:50:45 PM
DWG is right. I'm just re-reading War and Peace now, coincidentally.(and have been for the last two weeks, who knows how many more!)
Posted by: chris weber at Feb 16, 2006 3:06:27 PM
Archie and Edith Bunker.
Posted by: John B. Chilton at Feb 16, 2006 4:43:43 PM
I am curious, Mr. Tyler, what exactly do you mean by "the extreme perversity in Tolstoy"?
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