Literary lovers, it seems, break the rules, exploring the boundaries set by family, society, religion or law. What can we learn from their defiance? Why does such love so often end in disaster? Is love socially constructed or universal? We will explore these and other questions through a variety of genres. Possible readings include cross-cultural myths and legends, something Shakespearean, Nabokov's Lolita, Hwang's M. Butterfly, Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Woolf 's letters, and the films My Brilliant Career, Cyrano de Bergerac and Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Students will keep a journal of reader responses and design a final project.