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There's a strong school of historical thought (not even postmodern!) that says falling in love, for example, was not part of the European tradition until it emerged as a construct deriving from mediaeval courtly love literature and the troubadours.

I've never understood this, because it's obvious from Greek and Roman literature that they had similar experiences. The only difference was that they were more openly bisexual and sometimes openly paedophiles too. But 'love' - in the sense of an overwhelming feeling attachment - certainly wasn't unknown to them.

The Troubador twist wasn't romantic love, but the sublimation of romantic love into pure narrative with little or no physical contact.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Tue Nov 14th, 2006 at 05:18:57 PM EST
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