Love and the Novel: Life After Reading

(Hardback, Main)

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'A subversive, brilliant and beautifully written book about love, play and power in fiction and in the well-read life' - Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater

Romantic love was born alongside the novel, and books have been shaping how we experience and think about our most intimate stories ever since. But what do novels give us when our own lives diverge from the usual narrative paths

Christina is a professor used to examining stories with a critical eye; until one day in middle age she finds herself falling in love and leaving her marriage for a romance with another woman. This involves a familiar enough tale, but when her new partner suffers a stroke, Tina begins to reflect on the sorts of love that novels rarely capture.

A heady mix of memoir, criticism and storytelling that draws on novels ranging from Pride and Prejudice to Price of Salt, Anna Karenina to Conversations with Friends, to illuminate the ways love and novels work, and show how some types of love, which don't race to a narrative end-point, might be the most important of all.

'A delicious combination of critical thought and passionate personal experience.' - Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure for Sleep

Reviews

'In this eloquent, captivating conversation between memoir and criticism, Christina Lupton also offers a mesmerizing love song to the experience of reading in its own right.' - David James, author of Discrepant Solace

'Tina Lupton's eloquent account of an unexpected real-life plot twist marries critical prowess and a gripping story, in an honest and fantastically insightful book.' - Laura Kipnis, author of 'Love in the Time of Contagion'

'Lupton's unsparing memoir forces us to re-examine the lives lived on our bookshelves and in our heads.' - Leah Price, author of 'What We Talk About When We Talk About Books'

'Such a rich exploration of love in all its forms (marital, adulterous; for children, friends). I love how Christina Lupton summons an iconic cast of our favourite fictional lovers ... even as her own desires carry her far beyond many of their teachings. A delicious combination of critical thought and passionate personal experience.' - Tanya Shadrick, author of 'The Cure for Sleep'

'A subversive, brilliant and beautifully written book about love, play and power in fiction and in the well-read life' - Sarah Moss

Author Bio

Christina Lupton is a literature professor at the University of Warwick. Her new edition of Pride and Prejudice (Oxford University Press, 2019) contains an introductory essay about love that was the germ of Love and the Novel. Tina's writing has appeared in many publications including Avidly, n+1, Politics/Letters, the LARB and TLS.