From a survey of popular novels and media, it would be reasonable to conclude romantic love is an ultimate goal of life. Man meets woman, man and woman defeat obstacles—misunderstanding or illness, perhaps forced separation—to recognize their love. They swoon. Exquisite desire transcends everyday humdrum, making them feel realer than real. Murmured exchanges of love’s liturgy—'You are so beautiful,’ ‘I’ve never felt like this before,’ ‘I can’t live without you’—confirm their experience of The Grand Romance.
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