We'll always have Helen
July 15, 2008 5:13 AM Subscribe
Looking for stories of a man seeking to reclaim a strayed mistress. The more archetypical (possibly Biblical), the better. I thank you.
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. I don't know if archetypical as you're calling it here means good or classic or old or what, but this book is a freaking classic.
posted by mattbucher at 7:14 AM on July 15, 2008
posted by mattbucher at 7:14 AM on July 15, 2008
So much does not end well for Martin Arrowsmith in the 1926 Pulitzer Prize winning novel Arrowsmith [warning: link to Wikipedia article, that contains plot spoilers] by Sinclair Lewis, that his romantic dalliances and tragedies are often seen as sub-plots intended only to contrast the intensity of Arrowsmith's devotion to his career and his intellectual commitment to scientific method. But they are more, by far, as in his backward looking romantic failures, we repeatedly see the imbalance and immaturity that are the price of Arrowsmith's intellectual growth and professional success. He moons over a callow young girl who he desires as his mistress, and tries, ignobly to re-claim her after she takes up with a lesser man, even as his interests in her hurt and demoralize his long suffering wife. Later, he idolizes in death a woman he came to fully love only after she was departed, and he could not communicate his passion for her any longer. Longing for women he can no longer have, and even trying to re-connect with them, is an on-going theme in Arrowsmith's life, that tragically counterbalance his forward thinking, scientifically focused intellect and professional life.
posted by paulsc at 7:24 AM on July 15, 2008
posted by paulsc at 7:24 AM on July 15, 2008
The majority of the Old Testament is one long, convoluted, continuing story of just such a nature. Except He's not your typical man. As the story goes, He finally buys her back - at the price of His own Son's life - and they live happily ever after.
posted by allkindsoftime at 8:11 AM on July 15, 2008
posted by allkindsoftime at 8:11 AM on July 15, 2008
The novella "Revenge" by Jim Harrison, published as part of a collection in Legends of the Fall. It is rather... unsettling.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 9:12 AM on July 15, 2008
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 9:12 AM on July 15, 2008
"Ballad of the Absent Mare"'s metaphoric lyrics are based on the twelfth-century text "Ten Ox-herding Pictures" (or "The Ten Bulls") by the Chinese master Ka-Kuan.
posted by hortense at 5:18 PM on July 15, 2008
posted by hortense at 5:18 PM on July 15, 2008
If by strayed, you include abducted, then the Hindu epic Ramayana fits the bill.
posted by dhruva at 12:13 AM on July 16, 2008
posted by dhruva at 12:13 AM on July 16, 2008
Um, and of course the one you already got, the Trojan War.
posted by ersatz at 6:49 AM on July 16, 2008
posted by ersatz at 6:49 AM on July 16, 2008
« Older If you'll just point me in the right direction... | Building confidence in my ability to overcome... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by j1950 at 5:48 AM on July 15, 2008