Love Conquers Nothing: A Glandular History of Civilization
by Emily Hahn
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Fiction. Literature. Romance. If you look at history through Emily Hahn's jaundiced eyes, you'll realize that romance just ain't what romantics crack it up to be. Using such notorious affairs as those of Caesar and Cleopatra or Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Hahn reminds us that love is far less of a factor in the fates of nations than greed, wrath, and some of humanity's other, less attractive character traits. Love doesn't conquer all; it just screws a lot of things up.Tags
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The author of some 56 wonderful biographies, travel stories, and landmarks of journalism, Hahn sifts through thirteen historical examples of Love's exertions.
Hahn is relentless at explaining, clearly and with colorful detail, exactly how cretinous, hypocritical, raw and scandal-plagued the models of decency are. Every aspect of "propriety" is compromised by history. The frailties of the great are exposed.
1. Helen of Troy - drawn from Homer's Iliad.
2. Sappho - the lesbian poet universally loved in her day.
3. Cleopatra - courted by Roman assassins.
4. Henry VIII - murdering to marry.
5. Nzinga - warrior queen.
6. Marie Francoise - proxy bride.
7. A Swedish-German clan, the Konigsmarks; trial over the loyalty of a mercenary martyr, murderous show more affairs of nobility, Sophie Dorothea, wife and mother of kings of England.
8. Chevalier D'Eon, hermaphrodite lawyer blackmailed Louis XV - "a devouring passion for intrigue". Danger of diplomatic papers.
9. Admiral Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton.
10. Calcutta - women of the colonials, Marian Hastings, Catherine.
11. Sexual misdemeanors, the Bedchamber Plot during Victoria's first year as Queen.
The outcomes are disastrous and wrought. Only four, at most, and only arguably, result in contentment.
She concludes: "What you may ask, does it signify? Nothing very much, perhaps, save that I wouuld like to put on record somewhere the following revised proverb: ALL CONQUERS LOVE. show less
Hahn is relentless at explaining, clearly and with colorful detail, exactly how cretinous, hypocritical, raw and scandal-plagued the models of decency are. Every aspect of "propriety" is compromised by history. The frailties of the great are exposed.
1. Helen of Troy - drawn from Homer's Iliad.
2. Sappho - the lesbian poet universally loved in her day.
3. Cleopatra - courted by Roman assassins.
4. Henry VIII - murdering to marry.
5. Nzinga - warrior queen.
6. Marie Francoise - proxy bride.
7. A Swedish-German clan, the Konigsmarks; trial over the loyalty of a mercenary martyr, murderous show more affairs of nobility, Sophie Dorothea, wife and mother of kings of England.
8. Chevalier D'Eon, hermaphrodite lawyer blackmailed Louis XV - "a devouring passion for intrigue". Danger of diplomatic papers.
9. Admiral Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton.
10. Calcutta - women of the colonials, Marian Hastings, Catherine.
11. Sexual misdemeanors, the Bedchamber Plot during Victoria's first year as Queen.
The outcomes are disastrous and wrought. Only four, at most, and only arguably, result in contentment.
She concludes: "What you may ask, does it signify? Nothing very much, perhaps, save that I wouuld like to put on record somewhere the following revised proverb: ALL CONQUERS LOVE. show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Love Conquers Nothing: A Glandular History of Civilization
- First words
- Most decidedly, love does not conquer all.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)There they are; I rest my case. Out of these thirteen people, four achieved a certain measure of happiness or content. What you may ask, does it signify? Nothing very much, perhaps, save that I wouuld like to put on record somewhere the following revised proverb: ALL CONQUERS LOVE.
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