A Fine Romance

So over this short Easter break I have been wathcing a lot of old movies, mainly musicals. I just moved to a new place and they have free cable. Lucky me. Anyway, as I was saying, I have been watching a lot of old musicals and most of them were starring Doris Day, the sweetheart of the silver screen. A common theme of musicals is falling in love, this may not be the main story line but it is one of the back stories that happens alongside the main plot. To me these musicals are epitomes of the perfect romance or at least my idea of a perfect romance. Not only do they contain the innocent, beautiful heroine but they also have great soundtracks! The one thing I have found that these films lack are an apparent death, at least most of them, but they have the other necessary requirements; a recognition, maybe of the lead's true role in life or a number of things, then there is the quest, a search for the characters perfect break, and finally the piece de resistance, a happy ending. So we have most of the requirements covered, now to the peripherals. We've got sex(implied of course), marriage, descent when the lead hits rock bottom and ends up washing dishes in a fancy hotel just for room and board, adoption as is the case for Bing Crosby in Here Comes the Groom when he brings a pair of French orphans back to the states, and the last one I will list is sexual innocence which is a pervading theme throughout most of the older musicals. So as I have just listed all of the reasons why I believe these Doris Day musicals are perfect romances, I will sign off and continue watching Lucky Me.

Love at First Sight

So as we have been travelling along on our journey through the ocean of stories I have noticed a thread that keeps appearing. The thread I keep encountering throughout these stories is the occurrence of instantaneous love. I don't mean love at first sight, but the realization of love that happens all at once and not slowly over time. When Daphnis and Chloe first saw each other they didn't immediately fall in love, they enjoyed each others companionship, but innocently and as a brother and sister would. Then one day Chloe saw Daphnis bathing "and he seemed beautiful to her" pg.143 and she could only think of how beautiful Daphnis was "and this thought was the beginning of love" pg.143. Later Daphnis falls in love with Chloe when she kisses him all of a sudden he could see her beauty. I guess "falling" in love is the proper terminology if we are basing it on these stories because it appears as if there is no growing period, one minute you are fine and then the next you are aflame with love and desire. Another example of instantaneous love is in the story of Quamar al-Zaman and His Two Sons. When Quamar and then Princess Budur are in turn awoken by the demons they are struck by each other's beauty and fall deeply in love with one another. In the case of Budur, when she "saw Quamar al-Zaman, she fell passionately in love with him" pg.218, though she chided herself for it because he was a stranger, she still was in love. When I read stories like these I wonder how the idea of sudden love came about. Did someone actually experience it or is it just a speeding up of the process people have to go through in order to find love?

Daphnis and Chloe

I finished Daphnis and Chloe. Finally. This story was very good and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I think the reason I enjoyed it so much was because of the naivete of the two main characters and how innocent they are. If this was real life they would never have survived, they lack common sense and intelligence, they are so ignorant that they would have been murdered by pirates or kidnapped by ne'er do wells. The characters innocence made them appear in my eyes as little children would appear, I wanted good things to happen to them just because they were good people.
I believe that Daphnis' and Chloe's romance could almost be considered one of the perfect romances. Sure it isn't complex or high brow reading, but it is the most basic form of romance there is and the characters love with such innocence and deepness. Neither Daphnis nor Chloe has any personal motives for their interest in one another, their interest is based purely out of love for one another. The two love each other so much that the thought of being separated is enough for them to start planning suicide, which appears to be common theme in romances. I found a very good example of how much these two were in love on page 193... "They kissed continually and they embraced each other like two shoots of ivy that had grown into one"...I believe that this epitomizes the pureness and truth of their love. Also, when I read this quote it reminded me of Dr. Sexson's chosen image for Daphnis and Chloe, they are intertwined so tightly you cannot tell where one ends and the other begins, just like "two shoots of ivy that had grown into one."

The Beginning

Hello everybody! My name is Katryna and this is my blog. As this is the first blog that I have made I will graciously accept any advise you have to give me and hope that you will forgive me if I make a few mistakes.
I am enjoying this class immensely and can't wait to delve deeper into the wonderful sea of stories and to once and for all be able to explain "the use of stories that aren't even true".
As I am a little late in getting this blog up and running, it makes sense that I have finished Haroun and the Sea of Stories so that is what I will be discussing in this, my first post.
Now, where to begin...
Well I will start by saying how much I enjoyed this book, it was a perfect adventure tale and it had a wonderful, happy ending, which is not always common, but definitely nice. As I was reading this book I kept thinking how much it reminded me of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. The colorfulness of the narration and the way in which Rushdie invented his own words and places was fabulous and followed in the footsteps of the aforementioned author.
Anyway, this book was fabulous and I can't wait to discuss and read more stories!!