Love, Etc.

Book excerpt: The look of love . . . through an analytic lens Long treated with skepticism in literary and cultural studies, love – as a subject of serious scholarly inquiry – is now attracting intense interest and renewed attention. Love, Etc. centers on two key themes: representations of love in literature and culture and love as a relationship to literature and culture. How are our attitudes to love changing in the wake of new technologies and social media; shifting norms around partnering, marriage, and divorce; and feminist and queer thought? Fifteen short and accessible essays cover a wide range of topics from Tinder to The Bachelor, from liking trees to loving aliens, from unrequited love to maternal love, from polyamory to new stories of female friendship, from loving physical books to theorizing love in popular music. Contributors: Carolina Bandinelli, University of Warwick * Mette Blok, Roskilde University, Denmark * Angus Connell Brown * Stephanie Burt, Harvard University * Anne-Marie S. Christensen, University of Southern Denmark * Jonathan Flatley, Wayne State University * Lily Gurton-Wachter, Smith College * Timothy Laurie, University of Technology Sydney * Hanna Meretoja, University of Turku, Finland * Kevin Ohi, Boston College * John Plotz, Brandeis University * Anna Poletti, Utrecht University, The Netherlands * Jessica Pressman, San Diego State University * Biswarup Sen, University of Oregon * Hannah Stark, University of Tasmania