--this is such a depressing, depressing idea of love.
I think so!
Jo's right that it runs through Renault's classical novels, too, but I don't think of it as affecting the central relationship in The Mask of Apollo, which is not a romance novel, but which does have a healthy long-term love running through it, which may be another reason it is my favorite. I don't have to argue with that one as I do with The Charioteer or Return to Night. Its understanding of fourth-century Athenian theater has been left behind since its publication and some odds and ends of its author's other attitudes slip through in ways with which I have disagreed since high school, but I just really like it.
no subject
I think so!
Jo's right that it runs through Renault's classical novels, too, but I don't think of it as affecting the central relationship in The Mask of Apollo, which is not a romance novel, but which does have a healthy long-term love running through it, which may be another reason it is my favorite. I don't have to argue with that one as I do with The Charioteer or Return to Night. Its understanding of fourth-century Athenian theater has been left behind since its publication and some odds and ends of its author's other attitudes slip through in ways with which I have disagreed since high school, but I just really like it.