All those stories about love..

Je t'aime, pompidou, originally uploaded by julienpaul.

(be warned, spoilers regarding Twilight and Ni d’adam, ni d’Eve.)

My recent reading schedule has been a bit eccentric, perhaps even bi-polar; I persisted through the Twilight series to see what it’s all about, while alternating with “L’Etranger”, by Camus, “Ni d’Adam, ni d’eve” by Nothomb, and now onto “Coming up for air” by Orwell.

Obviously, in comparison, Myier’s writing style seemed even more simplistic and poor, but the greatest contrast existed between Myier’s and Nothomb’s depictions of that word, “love”.

So, maybe Twilight is essentially written for teenagers and can be seen as a bit of a fairytale filtered through the eyes of Dawson’s Creek. Perhaps I shouldn’t try to read too deeply into it. Even so, I cannot escape the fact that the two main characters, Bella and Edward, don’t have a single thing in common and don’t connect on any level other than sexually.

Rather quickly, they start throwing the word “love” around and it becomes an unquestionable justification for their relationship, rather than love being the RESULT of their relationship. All of their doubts about each other are linked to looks and Love, with the two being inseperable.

Nothomb, however, has a slightly less fairytale approach. Her autobiographic novel depicts her relationship with a Japanese man, Rinri, while she lived in Tokyo for two years. Rinri is sweet like no man she has ever met, adores her in a tender and rather innocent manner and makes her content, but as she puts it: when he isn’t there, she doesn’t think about him.

She has to tackle the fact that she is unsure of her feelings, that perhaps she loves him, but that love isn’t enough. When he proposes to her, she tries to put it off for a few years, too afraid to hurt him, and not wanting to lose what happiness he gives her. However, she quickly realizes she will never marry him; he is simply too nice. She needs a certain amount of “vinegar” in her relationships for them to work. She abandons him without a word of explanation.

Obviously the two books are written for different markets, but after reading Nothomb’s book, “Love” as an unquestionable justification for a relationship seems pretty flimsy. Perhaps the superficial nature of Edward and Bella’s relationship is inevitable when you look at the characters: Edward is perfect and hence boring, Bella is nothing but an annoying bundle of nerves. Still, all I could think about when Edward and Bella discussed spending eternity together was that when the lust runs out, fuck they’re going to be in hell.