Alicia Ramasco: "Love in its purest essence"

     As she talks about one of her dearest subjects, Alicia Ramasco seems to go through a rare transformation. In fact, I imagine her stepping carefully from the pages of "Wurthering Heights--tucked into her long flowing 18th century dress. Literature is one of her dearest loves: she got her doctor's degree in writing skills for the EFL classroom and has a specially soft heart for romantic English novels. She currently works at the English Department of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina.

     "The dark brooding atmosphere we breath at the beginning of the novel foreshadows the story of an ill-fated love," she says. "The strong wind, the storms, the mysterious environment, the shadows, and darkness herald the bitter and tragic events on the offing."

   Indeed, Heathcliff is a rather gloomy character, I suggest.

   "Heathcliff is a wild orphan who after being rescued from the streets of Liverpool, is brought up by a well-to-do English family. He grows up with Cathy and falls in love with her. She loves Heatcliff deeply: "I am Heathcliff" she says. Yet she cannot escape from the secure benefits of social standing and the accoutrements of a cultured life. Therefore, she marries a rich neighbour, Edgar Linton, ignoring her heart's desire. In a way, this doomed relationship is always determined by external circumstances and conflicts-the most important being the social and cultural difference between the lovers, an precise element not to be ignored in the 19th century "zeitgeist." The subsequent Heathcliff's decision to escape, and "disappear" for three years serves as a prelude to the final stage: Heathcliff returns and both he and Cathy have undergone tremendous changes and experiences."

    Does their love die?

   "No. Despite everything, the love of the two kindred spirits prevails. In the end, love conquers even Heathcliff, after his soul has been cleansed with age and wisdom. Catherien's delirium during her fever is unforgettable. She is iron-willed, immature with a quest for high-profile. She is both loving and violent, rude and delicate, wild-hearted. When Heathcliff is told that she has died "quietly as a lamb", he cries: "May she wake in torment!…I pray one prayer- I repeat it until my tongue stiffens- Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living!… Be with me always…only do not leave me in the abyss, where I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!."

   Alicia pauses for a minute, as if dreaming.

   "This tremendous desperation, shown by a human being having lost his couple is the most shocking, cruel and even "bloody" scene I have ever read in any other story or novel. At least, it is the one that has touched me most. That spiritual peace they had always lacked during their tormented lives, that peace they had always longed for together, only "appears" when both are dead. They loved to roam the moors by day or night as children, and after their spirits are still haunting the moors, peacefully and happily as it should have always been, as it should be for ever and ever. Lockwood, the narrator, says at the end: "I lingered round them, under that benign sky, in contrast with the stormy weather at the beginning, watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, (in contrast with the thunder) listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."
Do you see the same kind of love relations in Dickens?

   "The theme of love in Dickens is unclear in the weaving of the plot. In my opinion, Sydney Carton's love for Lucy Mannette is so spiritual and pure that it deserves to be qualified as "sublime". There are two reasons why I think that Carton's feelings are "beyond" what is expected from an ordinary human being. One of the reasons is the following: Carton knew that by changing roles with Darnay, by saving Darnay, he would save his beloved Lucy. He knew that this would mean his execution, he would never see Lucy again. Regardless of this fact, he decides to "give" his life in exchange of Lucy's happiness.

   A sort of heroic act.
 

  "Yes, Carton acts heroically. The nobility shown by Carton is unheard of. Furthermore, Carton's action deserves the category of a heroic one because after a long struggle against the confines of his own personality, dissatisfied with a life that he regards as worthless, he finally understands that a secure death for Lucy, will give a worthy meaning to his empty life. Therefore, Carton as above mentioned, ascends to the plane of heroism, becoming a Christ-like figure whose death serves to save the lives of others. His own life thus gains meaning and value. Moreover, the final pages of the novel suggest that, like Christ, Carton will be resurrected- Carton is reborn in the hearts of those he has died to save. That is why I consider this love story imagined by Dickens as one of the greatest ones in the history of universal literature."

   Alicia was a Fullbright and an American Field Service scholar and holds an Honours Diploma in American History from Mesa State College, Grand Junction, Colorado, U.S.A., and perhaps her stay there also opened her eyes to North American writers. So I said: You have also studied O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi." Do you see any new twists to love in his novels?
"Della and Jim were a married couple, both childless and penniless.

   This is the beginning of the story:

  "One dollar and eight-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man of the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and 87 cents. And the next day would be Christmas". Della's concern was Jim's Christmas present. And Jim's concern was Della´s Christmas present. So what did they do?

  "Della had beautiful long hair that Jim loved so dearly. It was her pride, her treasure. She would always comb her hair slowly, carefully as if it were a most delicate ceremony. But her love for Jim was more powerful than her pride for her hair. So she decided to have it cut, and finally she sold it. She got some dollars for it and bought a beautiful platinum chain for Jim's beloved watch, a sacred watch to him as it had belonged to his father and grandfather. He needed a new chain but could not afford it so he used an old leather strap in place of a chain. Della knew that and bought the chain for him as she wanted him to be happy with her acquisition. On the other hand, Jim adored Della's hair and thought of buying a set of fine combs "that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window." "Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims…" So his nobility comes here, he sold his most appreciated possession, his old treasure, his "worshipped" watch to buy the combs for Della's hair.

   A very tender story.

   Certainly. The values of nobility, generosity, thoughtfulness and awareness for the other person are portrayed outstandingly by O'Henry. This is love in its purest essence. And this love story is one of the most romantic, and at the same realistic in American literature."

   I took leave of Alicia thinking about the inexorable contradiction that hovers over human beings: violence, war and hatred on the one hand and on the other the kind of love that seems to glue men and women together, as in the most exalting romantic novels.

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