Mihaela URSA
The Theory of Amorous Illness
Institution:
Dept. of Comparative Literature, Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj
Author's email:
mihaela_ursa@yahoo.com
Abstract:
The present paper is part of a larger research on the narrative peculiarities of amorous fiction. This section analyzes a particular metaphor engaged in the explanation of the nature of love in configurative arts and literature: the illness. Seen as a psycho-somatic or only a psychological condition, love is understood as a disease because as such it makes the chaos of being in love comprehensible and it helps the management of what seems unmanageable in passion. From Marsilio Ficino to Thomas Mann and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, world love fiction offers illustrations of the theory of amorous illness.
