This week I have been hanging out with English peeps at the National Council for Teachers of English conference in Chicago, IL (yes, where I got engaged this past June!- this time without Kyle, unfortunately). Overheard the other day: "Oh my gosh, Nicholas Sparks is going to be here! That is AH-MAY-ZING!" An adult said this. An adult who teaches LITERATURE. An adult that should have in her repertoire much more complex and intriguing, not to mention realistic, love stories. Austen? Bronte? Hell, Shakespeare. I am more than supportive of a variety of literary texts that are out there about the nature of love, which need to exist to support any number of readers and different reading abilities and preferences. But I expected more of you, English-Teacher-who-cares-enough-about-English-to-go-to-a-national-conference-about-it. And thus, my Friday confession this week brings out the literary snob in me:
CONFESSION #2:
I love a love story, but only when it is a tried and true classic love story, and I don't like sappy romance of the modern popular fiction genre.
The thing that irks me beyond all else about this topic is when people deem Romeo and Juliet "the greatest love story of all time." It is a LUST story. It is about suicide, about death, about loss and tragedy of friendship. NOT LOVE (Taylor Swift). Nice allusion, if you would have gotten it correct.
So as I think about my wedding, I hope that I can produce a fabulous, tried and true, authentic love story to continue to share with all of you, my loyal readers, and prove to you that you don't need the shallow or sappy "happy endings" of the contemporary literary world to find out what love is really all about.
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