Arts & Culture

With Valentine's Day on Monday and then the Academy Awards coming up on February 27th, my thoughts have turned to romantic heroes of the page and screen!  Colin Firth, nominated in the best actor category for this year's Academy Awards for his fine portrayal of King George VI in The King's Speech, previously portrayed possibly the most romantic literary hero ever – Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.  Judge for yourself, in this famous scene from the television series of Pride and Prejudice, based on the novel  by Jane Austen about finding love in nineteenth century England:

You can see more of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in the television series, available at Toronto Public Library, as is the book (click on images for more information).

 
Other great romantic literary heroes who come to my mind include the nameless man and his love for his nurse, Hana, from Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel The English Patient.  Ralph Fiennes portrays the wounded man in the film version of the novel, which takes place in Italy at the end of World War II.  Another famous war love story, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, is an unforgettable tale about the love between an American ambulance driver, Lieutenant Henry, and Catherine, an English nurse, in World War I.  There are several screen versions of the novel.

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Doctor Zhivago, set during the Russian Revolution, is a passionate love story about a physician's love for a woman named Lara.  Omar Sharif played the part of Doctor Zhivago in the film version.  My favourite romantic literary hero, however, is George Emerson, from E. M. Forster's A Room with a View.  George, a freethinker, is in love with Lucy Honeychurch, on vacation in Italy with her chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett, played to perfection in the film version by Maggie Smith.