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Lucy Jordan
02-14-2008, 03:10 PM
In honor of anti-valentines day, what is your favorite tragic love story? One where it just comes all undone, for at least one of the characters or possibly, sparks a chain of horrible events? My first nominee is - "The World I Made For Her" Thomas Moran. Disfigured and dying man, with limited communication abilities, falls in love with unavailable nurse in addition to realizing he wasted his entire life.
Lucy :bawling:
ntropyincarnate
02-14-2008, 03:23 PM
First one that comes to mind is Wuthering Heights. I loved that story. And I just read a book recently called A Long Fatal Love Chase, that one was pretty good too.

Welcome to litnet, Lucy! :wave:
mayneverhave
02-14-2008, 05:59 PM
Tristan und Isolde
LadyW
02-14-2008, 06:19 PM
This is probablly a most typical reply... but I do love Romeo and Juliet :)
amalia1985
02-14-2008, 06:26 PM
I will choose "Wuthering Heights" too.
LadyWentworth
02-14-2008, 06:56 PM
And I just read a book recently called A Long Fatal Love Chase, that one was pretty good too.
The tragedy in that story for me is really between Rosamond and Father Ignatius. I won't say any more than that if anyone else ever happens to read this story. :)

But wasn't Tempest a devil, though? ;)
ntropyincarnate
02-14-2008, 07:01 PM
The tragedy in that story for me is really between Rosamond and Father Ignatius. I won't say any more than that if anyone else ever happens to read this story. :)

But wasn't Tempest a devil, though? ;)

:nod: :bawling:

I was really surprised when I saw it at the library, it seemed so un-Alcott-ish. You know what I mean if you've read Little Women. Apparently it was too scandalous to be published in her lifetime. :lol:
Niamh
02-14-2008, 07:02 PM
Tristan und Isolde

:bawling:
Erichtho
02-14-2008, 07:18 PM
Hyperion by Friedrich Hölderlin. Pathetic, idealistic, beautiful.
LadyWentworth
02-14-2008, 11:17 PM
:nod: :bawling:

I was really surprised when I saw it at the library, it seemed so un-Alcott-ish. You know what I mean if you've read Little Women. Apparently it was too scandalous to be published in her lifetime. :lol:
Well, I just happened to see it in the bookstore (this was maybe about 5 years ago). I wasn't even looking for anything Alcott. I was walking down the aisle and that title, along with the author's name, stood out to me. I was very intrigued right away. I have to admit to being very happy that I spent the money on it. I loved it.

Yes, if you look at the storyline and the characters, and then consider the time period when it was written, you know it is a book that would not have been published then. It is definitely a far cry from "Little Women"! :)
islandclimber
02-14-2008, 11:55 PM
Thomas Hardy---Tess of the D'urbevilles

(and for that matter Jude the Obscure is pretty tragic and beautiful as well)

the letter she sends to Angel is just about the most sad and tragic letter ever written... and the way she reunites with Alec with a supposedly reborn Alec just before Angel returns with renewed love for her, and how she kills Alec and they finally consummate their love and then... well tragedy is tragedy you get the picture... quite the tear-jerker...
bazarov
02-15-2008, 07:34 AM
Eugene Onegin.

Romeo and Juliet isn't that tragic...
JBI
02-15-2008, 12:44 PM
Eugene Onegin.

Romeo and Juliet isn't that tragic...

I'm with you on Onegin.
RaatKiRanii
02-15-2008, 10:37 PM
"Wuthering Heights" and "The Painted Veil"
Dark Muse
02-15-2008, 10:57 PM
Despite the Clique Romey and Juiliet is a good one, but in my opinion, far better was Othello, that is one of the best tales of tragic love for me.

But I would also have to say The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton.
byquist
02-15-2008, 11:48 PM
Film "Mother Night" with Nick Nolte, particularly when he sits down for a candlelight dinner and table-talk with his invisible previously-deceased spouse (or is she deceased?). A serious existential film.
bouquin
02-16-2008, 05:30 AM
Mattie Silver & Ethan Frome
byquist
02-16-2008, 02:24 PM
Yea, Mattie and Ethan are right up there at the top.

Then there's the last 1-2 minutes of film, "The Third Man." A sad waste of two perfectly-suited people.
aabbcc
02-17-2008, 05:43 AM
Pyramus and Thisbe, from Ovid's Metamorphoses IV.
Selkie
02-19-2008, 07:52 AM
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Annamariah
02-20-2008, 05:28 PM
Yes, if you look at the storyline and the characters, and then consider the time period when it was written, you know it is a book that would not have been published then. It is definitely a far cry from "Little Women"! :)

Have you read Alcott's short stories? The ones that WERE published? :D There are quite sensational themes in them, too. Drugs, hypnose, deceitful women and stuff like that... :lol:

As for the original topic, I would have also said Wuthering Heights and A Long, Fatal Love Chase :D