Some of us “would never have fallen in love in the first place” if we “hadn’t heard of such a thing” – or so the maxim goes. La Rochefoucauld’s take on romance, here, might sound a touch cynical, but it’s fair to say that the way our heart flutters is governed, at least in part, by the pages we flick.
For generation Xers, the formative love canon has a decidedly ironic edge. More bathos than balconies, young love 80s-style brings to mind Adrian Mole’s proclamations – “Pandora! / I adore ya!” – and Victoria Wood’s exquisite “Crush” on a lad at the bus stop (“If we went for a date I would just be in heaven / I know you’re 16, but I’m tall for 11”).
