ETHIC OF ROMANCE IN THE TWILIGHT SERIES

Dream-Fulfilled in the Honourable Male Vampire

Authors

  • Ferdinand D Dagmang De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

Keywords:

Male Vampire, ETHIC, ROMANCE, TWILIGHT SERIES

Abstract

A good number of readers branded the Twilight series as amateurish, emotionally empty, inane nonsense, naïve, conservative, monotonous, contradictory, or trivial.1 These are Twilight haters who mostly populate the internet; but no matter how much they dislike the work, they could not deny its enormous popularity. Such popularity has been acknowledged by literary critics who have fairly recognized the importance of analysing Twilight.2 However, most of their critical studies did not pay attention to the fact that this popular appeal is an indication of the readers’ response to an element in the novels which relates to their own longings, needs, or desires. Indeed, Twilight has struck a chord in the heart of its readers. The “powerful element” in Twilight that produced the kind of impact on readers is, however, neither evident nor openly announced by the author. Analysis could, however, identify it and bring it into the open. Moreover, a fair amount of thoughtful study may be required to clarify what that ‘chord in the heart of its readers’ would refer to. 

Author Biography

Ferdinand D Dagmang, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

Dr Ferdinand D. Dagmang is an associate professor at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. His publications include, besides several articles on the subjects of ethics, sexuality, popular religion and culture, The Predicaments of Intimacy and Solidarity: Capitalism and Impingements, Quezon City: Central Books, 2010 and Candlelights: Memories of a Former Religious Brother Seminarian, Quezon City: Central Books, 2012. Email: ferdinand.dagmang@dlsu.edu.ph.

References

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Herb Goldberg, The Hazards of Being Male, New York: Signet, 1976;

Giddens, The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992, 149-152;

Luce Irigaray, An Ethics of Sexual Difference, trans. Carolyn Burke and Gillian C. Gill, London/NY: Continuum, 2004, 51-61.

Ferdinand D. Dagmang, The Predicaments of Intimacy and Solidarity: Capitalism and Impingements, Quezon City: Central Books, 2010, 168ff.;

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Sabina Spielrein, “Destruction as the Cause of Coming into Being,” Journal of Analytic Psychology 39 (1994), 159 (155-186); see also Giddens, The Transformation of Intimacy, 3ff.

Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labour in Society, trans. W.D. Halls, London: The McMillan Press Ltd., 1984, 38-39.

Karen E. Fields, “Translator’s Introduction,” in Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, New York: The Free Press, 1995, xlvii ff.

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Published

2013-03-31

How to Cite

Dagmang, F. D. (2013). ETHIC OF ROMANCE IN THE TWILIGHT SERIES: Dream-Fulfilled in the Honourable Male Vampire. Journal of Dharma, 38(1), 71–86. Retrieved from https://dvkjournals.in/index.php/jd/article/view/335