It is a study not of the loves of real people, but of the ideal of love as it found expression in stories, stories which were often retold and reimagined by new generations and new cultures. We begin in archaic Greece, with a story which was already old when Homer composed his epics. Straightforward examines how we got from there to here. By following these stories and the changes they underwent through the centuries Straightforward attempts to answer two related questions: 'When and why did the heterosexual ideal become normative in our narrative tradition?' and 'What was there before?' When asked to name an archetypal love story, most people will reply Romeo & Juliet, although some say Tristan & Isolde instead. Mythical Fiction The fascination with myth and folktale used to serious purpose in Straightforward finds more imaginative expression in these retellings and fantasies.

Straightforward examines how we got from there to here. Straightforward: The Narrative Construction of Heteronormativity from Homer to The Hobbit : Attwater, Marcus: Amazon.es: Libros Saltar al contenido principal. The reason for this is also not hard to find: as it does now, 'love' in the ancient world meant the affection of equals, and given the inferior position of women in Greek and Roman society, between the sexes is not usually where love is to be found. Lives of the saintsDonald Attwater, Evaluation of Food for the Heart Campaign. Very few will come up with a classical example, and the reason for this is simple: when you say archetypal, it is assumed you mean love between a man and a woman, and instances of this in classical accounts are rare. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Son of Two Bloods (North American Indian Prose.

When asked to name an archetypal love story, most people will reply 'Romeo & Juliet', although some say 'Tristan & Isolde' instead.

Straightforward by Marcus Attwater