Chapter 13-18, A Novel Sense, Something Paradoxical, My Page Makes Love, Letters, Letters, Folded Meanings, Bellerophon Is Quite Wrong After All Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 13, A Novel Sense, Carson claims that imagination is the core of desire and lies at the heart of metaphor. Writing and reading also require imagination. There is an analogy between the question of what the lover wants from love and what the reader wants from reading. Novels are the answer, and Carson demonstrates this through an analysis of some Greek novels. Novels, like Eros, involve triangulation, employing dilemmas and contradictions. Aphrodite as a character in Greek novels represents Eros in bringing together bridge and groom. But while romantic heroes and heroines say they aim at marriage, they are often...