Morality (Adelle Waldman)

Two of my favorite authors, Jane Austen and George Eliot, are very concerned with characters’ moral lives. In “The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.,” I look closely at how Nathaniel P. justifies his behavior to himself. Today, books or films about romantic relationships, or dating, are often seen as very light—mere amusements and escapes—but this is the area in life when most of us will reveal how we treat others: how kind we are to those we don’t (or no longer) love and how we respond when differences arise with those we do love.  I wanted to write a book about relationships that was truthful without being escapist, and I wanted to look closely at how dating behavior reflects morality in the deepest sense. People respond very differently to the character of Nathaniel P.—some people think he is a terrible person, while others think he is just a guy who hasn’t yet met “the one”—and to a large extent I think that reflects different ideas as to morality. I wanted people to think about whether Nathaniel P. is cruel to Hannah and if so, to see in his treatment of her behaviors that are far from exceptional but are rather very ordinary and familiar, that remind us of ways in which we’ve behaved to others or experienced at other’s hands. In this, I hope the book will make people reflect on themselves.

Pour citer cette ressource :

Adelle Waldman, Morality (Adelle Waldman), La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO (ISSN 2107-7029), août 2015. Consulté le 23/12/2024. URL: https://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/litterature/entretiens-et-textes-inedits/morality-adelle-waldman-