Monday, September 05, 2005

Daphnis & Cloe

The first greek book of Romance by Longus: Daphnis and the Cloe always stood grand in my Library shelf (Oxford's World Classics) and hardly did I care to go through until recently,the great classic romance written by the medieval authors dating late back in 1700s when romance flourished. Latin was the official language in Roman empire and Romance came from the Latin adverb that referred to speakers of Latin who were said to 'Fabulare Romance' - means to speak in roman way.




Since years, some things never change! They are pains and joys of Young Love. As long as there are young lovers, there will be Daphnis and Cloe. The novel by Longus tells about the charming love of a boy and a girl. The teenage love is guided to mystery of love by the mischievous Love of God 'Eros' - sensuous and religious initiation. Various incidents involving pirates, kidnapping, inter-city war between Mytilene and Methymna, and the suit of Chloe by a host of lusty young men, provide interesting reads from the main love story. We also see the impertinent male slave, Gnatho, make advances toward the clueless Daphnis, a case of very casual cultural attitude towards homoerotic love. Daphnis's run-in with Lycaenium, a married woman of Mytilene, is also an episode of note in the complex sexual plot of the greek novel.





A relationship between Humanity and Nature! And here....having read this one, there's lot of Romance authors I read like Barbara Cartland (My fav), Judith Macnaught (My second fav), Danielle Steel, Harold Robins, more and more, of coz Mills and Boons too....and yeah, here I slog to write one short Romance tale! Undoubtedly, the title would be 'Blossoming Dreams' - by Blossomsmile ilaxi...lol!