Primitive Love and Love-Stories

The author surveys romantic feeling from an evolutionary and anthropological perspective, arguing that romantic love is a late product of civilization and contrasting sentiments across savagery, barbarism, and civilized societies. He analyzes components of love—individual preference, monopolism, jealousy, coyness, hope and despair, hyperbole, pride, sympathy, adoration, gallantry, self-sacrifice, and affection—drawing on comparative ethnography and a selection of traditional love-stories to illustrate patterns and exceptions. The tone is critical and synthetic, combining case studies, literary examples, and theoretical discussion to trace how cultural institutions shape erotic and altruistic behaviors.