Literary Crushes
March 25, 2005
One of the recurring, chain-letter-like questionnaires floating around the lit blogs right now asks if the reader has “ever had a crush on a literary character.” If you haven’t, then you either need to start reading books that don’t have any pictures… or give up on the enterprise altogether. Maybe reading’s just not for you. Double points off if you’ve only had crushes on television and/or movie characters.
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Books and Reading, Links and Sites
All me-stream all the time.
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March 27th, 2005 at 7:44 am
I’m not sure it’s entirely fair to raise the subject, take the stand you take, and not pony up with a couple of names.
Can’t rightly say I’ve had crushes on any book gals. Gillian Boardman maybe?
March 27th, 2005 at 2:05 pm
http://www.cosmoetica.com
read your site now and then and think you might find this site interesting. i’ve followed this fellow for a few years and his criticisms of the pap that passes for poetry is blistering. he also has a great anti-war piece online. peace, Tor
March 28th, 2005 at 9:30 am
Tor: thanks for the link– I’ll check it out.
Beau: I’ve had many. Shouldn’t every reader who really gets into books? How about doe-eyed Daisy Buchanan, who wouldn’t usually be my type, or Cora from _The Postman Always Rings Twice_.
March 29th, 2005 at 12:39 am
I suppose crushes on poets don’t count–maybe especially the rock n’ roll poets–otherwise I’d claim Patti Smith singing ‘Gloria’.
Kinda dug the girl that appeared at the end of Celine’s ‘Journey to the End of Night’, though I don’t remember her name. Willa Cather’s girls were always yummy, too. Molly in Neuromancer…guess it’s subjective where it stops being a crush and starts being lust, otherwise the list would probably never end.
March 29th, 2005 at 8:41 am
Oh yeah– that reminds me– Eliza from Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle!
Of course crushes on poets matter and rock-and-roll stars count… for something. Now that I know a crush and lust are different, though, I might have to revise my inner-lists…
April 9th, 2005 at 7:16 pm
Mr. Darcy, now & forever
April 18th, 2005 at 11:27 am
That is the most hilarious peculiarity to the nerd society. I take it that Chris, you are joking when you say we are suppose to have had a crush on a ficticious character. I have heard of growing attached to a character in a book simply because of the descriptive elements of the personality may have similiarity to ones own idiosyncrasies, but to take it to a romantic level is bordering ludicrous.
April 18th, 2005 at 12:14 pm
Joel: wrong society– I’m talking to the literary folks here. And yes, I’m saying that if you’ve never enjoyed a book enough to develop a crush on a character the way most people at one time or another develop an attraction for a character on the movie screen, then you don’t read well or deeply enough to really get what’s going on. And that’s too bad for those people. Similarly, if a book has never made you cry you either don’t read the right books or you don’t read particularly well…