ABSTRACT
The world literature on romantic love, love in which Eros and libidinal impulses play the dominant if not exclusive role, is vast, reflecting the paramount importance of love in our lives. One can approach it in a more focused way, from a neurobiological perspective, with the specific aim of learning whether there is any single characteristic, or characteristics, of neurobiological interest that emerge from that literature, ones which might lead to novel experiments on the brain. This may seem surprising. Literature is generally read for pleasure and instruction; in the process, it may disturb, arouse, and give general insights and foresights. Reading it for neurobiological insights is not how most would see it. Yet all literature is a product of the human brain and mind; hence, all literature may be a rich source for understanding more about the brain and how it is organized to develop concepts, including the concept of love, should there be any universal concept of such a state. Conversely, insights gained from neurobiological studies may enrich our understanding of literary works. In reality, the traffic is in both directions.
In art criticism, Clive Bell asked what all things that arouse the “aesthetic emotion” have in common, claiming that the answer to that question would essentially “solve … the central problem of aesthetics” (Art). It is not a question that has been answered, or found a solution, in the humanities. Neurobiology, on the other hand, was inspired by Bell’s question to show experimentally that all things that are experienced as beautiful correlate quantitatively with activity in a specific part of the brain. Would a reading of the world literature of love yield a similar, potentially experimentally amenable, question? In fact, it does throw up strands that run, if not throughout all love literature, then at least in a sufficient number belonging to different epochs and cultures to suggest that there are one or more concepts about love that give the neurobiologist significant insights into understanding the brain concepts that regulate one of the most profound human experiences. Conversely, recent neurobiological studies show some old and novel literary works in a new light. Any review of the world literature of love would benefit from including at least a passing reference to what neurobiology has to say about love.
