literature about forbidden love

[oboi1983]

Hi everyone
I'm a new member from Australia.
I would like to find out from other members about any recommended literary works on the topics of forbidden love.
I've read the thorn birds and another book called Balzac and the little seamstress.
Also, do you think that great literature transcends the boundaries of moral or ethical limitations or must it serve the purposes of educating the public?
Look forward to all your replies and if possible to introduce yourself briefly so I can know others here.
Cheers.

[Marbles]

Hi everyone
Also, do you think that great literature transcends the boundaries of moral or ethical limitations or must it serve the purposes of educating the public?

Literature that singularly advances a moral or political position is propaganda disguised as literature. In my opinion good literature does not tell you whether something is moral or immoral, ethical or unethical, good or bad...but shows you, through the exaggeration of fiction, the ways in which people struggle to attain certainty about whatever they are fighting against or for. Great literature addresses and lays bare before us human condition, the dilemmas of existence, the essence and all that makes us humans, so to speak.

This is in no way a rejection of morality or ethical codes but this is not what literature should be doing. So one of the signs of good literature is uncertainty and ambiguity, grey areas, a surety marred by doubt. As Kafka said, "It is only because of their stupidity that they are able to be so sure of themselves." (The Trial)

Language is central; style and form matter. But what is known as 'content' is relative. Novels about the greatest of problems facing humankind turn out to be stiff corpses; whereas a novel or poetry apparently about nothing become great masterpieces. The 'education' that literature provides us is not preachy; it must not be a front of propagating 'great ideas'.

Pardon me for not addressing your main question. I'm sure many knowledgeable members will come up with examples of literature dealing with forbidden love. And welcome to LitNet :)

[cacian]

what is or what do you mean by 'forbidden love'?

[Eiseabhal]

Sounds like the kind of topic that attracts a lot of very bad writing "Forbidden Love Unchained" etc etc What about Madame Bovary? Belle du Seigneur? Anna Karenina? Wuthering Heights? Widdecombe's Act of Treachery is a worthy addition. I guess checking out this topic is a bit like panning for gold at Cille Donan. Lots of dross before you hit a nugget

[cacian]

Sounds like the kind of topic that attracts a lot of very bad writing "Forbidden Love Unchained" etc etc What about Madame Bovary? Belle du Seigneur? Anna Karenina? Wuthering Heights? Widdecombe's Act of Treachery is a worthy addition. I guess checking out this topic is a bit like panning for gold at Cille Donan. Lots of dross before you hit a nugget

Cille Donan? is that a place?

[ennison]

It is a place in the North of Scotland where gold was panned for in the river. I get your point Eiseabhal. There were only small quantities of gold ever found there. Maybe you should spend a holiday there Cacian - who knows you could be The One who will strike it rich!

[Eiseabhal]

Well you seem to have answered for me but I guess that's what happens to intermittent folk like me. There is a little gold in the river there and in the sixties men camped there for months panning. It was no Klondyke!

[Vota]

Marbles, I disagree with a lot of what you said because literature can be whatever it wants to be. If a book happens to be a giant polemic against modern government in the form of a novel then so be it. The author is the person in charge and their novel can be whatever they want it to be.

You are imposing your own beliefs as to what literature should say or be. Good literature can edify and it can instruct. There is nothing wrong with this because not every book does this.

Literature is wide open.

[tonywalt]

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin is a classic book about forbidden love (Baldwin was, of course, gay). The book is not edgy now as it was then, but he's a great writer.

[easy75]

Forbidden Love. I think Shakespeare wrote something obscure on this subject. Can't recall the name of it ..... Lol