The recent saga to hit the roof is Stephanie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’ series. From bookstores to bedside tables these vampire novels have been whisked into a must-read frenzy; slightly more civilized than a Primark store opening but nevertheless this consumption has considerable eagerness behind it. After shamefully grabbing a copy from the ‘kids section’ of Waterstone’s I sat down to read the second book (I had already seen the first film) and could not for the life of me leave the series alone until the end of ‘Breaking Dawn.’ It had consumed me along with the other millions of women around the world to the point where I was having vampire dreams (me being Bella of course) and had had an argument with my boyfriend based around his inability to match up to Edward Cullen’s immaculate chivalrous behaviour.

On my way to Croatia my friend needed a good beach book that she could really sink her teeth into and naturally I recommended Twilight. Having just graduated with BA hons in English Literature I automatically blushed, having promised my father to read Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ it might appear strange that Twilight was a priority. My friend then looked at me dubiously as if to ask why should she read a book about vampires and it was that look of unsupported disapproval that gave me twilight verbal diarrhoea.

Firstly, I would like to point out the uncontrollable irritation that beholds me whenever I see Twilight in the ‘Kids section’ of book stores. I agree that the supernatural element usually epitomises that of a children’s novel but we have to give this best selling series a bit more credit than that. Funnily enough the vampire stuff comes second to romance. The love between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan is the focal point of the story. Everything that happens is controlled by their inescapable feelings for each other. Their emotions are so strong that they cross both natural and supernatural boundaries and are so ardent that they force those around them to not only accept their fatal love but also fight and risk death to protect it. Here readers are presented with idealised, all encompassing, self-sacrificing love which in 2009 is hard to find. When will the average woman find such a chivalrous, gentlemanly, devastatingly handsome and dare I say perfect man who only has eyes for her and whose body and soul seems to function only to make her happy? I used to blame Knights in old tales who live in a land far far away but now this modern day story makes Mr Right seem real yet so inaccessible. Having acquired traditional gentlemanly manners towards women learnt from hundreds of years of experience, it is no wonder that Edward appears to be so perfect. It also does not help that in the movie Edward Cullen is played by the gorgeous Robert Pattinson who is a real person who could bump into you at any moment. The tale of a super boyfriend meets average girl seems too good to be true but all too real and familiar. There is always that one man to whom you give yourself fully in every way, who is capable of making you the happiest person alive or the most suffocatingly depressed. Here, love precedes all and presents an ideal in which we happily indulge. However, the unique aspect to this story is the mix between reality and the supernatural that subtly creates a love in which people can relate but at the same time be phenomenally envious. It is not just a story about a ‘teenage’ love affair but of a powerful emotion that has struck the hearts of millions of readers worldwide. Edward and Bella’s love has also breached boundaries not only within their own story but also of fact and fiction, of countries and languages because people either remember that first, pure love or aspire to it.

One important thing that the vampire element of the story has on the affect of the novel is the idea of the forbidden fruit. Edward and Bella’s sexual interaction is for the majority of the series restricted. The physical and mental battles of longing and restraint are internal but are impatient to the point of urgency. Stephanie Meyer illustrates sexual tension and frustration as a longing desire for a body to unite; a necessary step to complete a mature relationship and individual. Edward insists on waiting until the time is right and in the meantime is careful not to take their physical relationship too far (another of Edward’s courteous old fashioned male qualities). However, Bella’s desire is captured in a way that is so personally true to itself that one begins to ask whether the author’s experience has had an impact on the story.

As a Mormon, Meyer’s restrictions are similar to Edward and Bella’s. Unable to have sex before marriage, alcohol or even caffeine, her real life restrictions slip into the fantasy on paper. Despite the character’s squeaky clean teenage behaviour (almost an impossibility in modern times), the desire depicted in the Twilight series crushes any sort of criticism that Meyer is preaching her own blueprint of ideal morality because the desire is not presented as evil but inevitable. Sooner or later Edward and Bella will consummate their love; it is the pathway that the couple have chosen that is the important factor. The choice to wait and restrain oneself for the safety of another is what is highlighted. The overwhelming desire is a side effect that the book does not fail to acknowledge. Meyer’s choice to include raw feeling of desire indicates its importance to her novels and her execution of such a complex sentiment is more than satisfactory.

One can imagine millions of women transfixed by Bella’s longing for Edward and can probably remember a similar feeling back to when they themselves were teenagers. This is another factor as to why Twilight has been categorised as purely a young adult book. Mistaking the fact that the love and desire shown in these novels relates to all people of all ages, book stores have directly transposed Edward and Bella’s age to that of the audience which inevitably restricts and limits the book’s mental accessibility. Why can’t an English Literature post graduate read what a fifteen year old is reading? How can a 34 year old Mormon mother possibly write such an intricate and complex story about young love? – Because love is not young, it is old.

So, I have dealt with themes of love and sexual desire and why they should not be seen at face value. Now I would like to touch more on the reality side of the Twilight series where Meyer makes accessible real life urgencies. She deals with loss, heartbreak, relationships, life and death, pain, birth, marriage, love, sex, the sublime… the list goes on…. in four books.

The issues develop and grow more intense as Edward and Bella’s relationship grows, inviting in a world which breaks the innocence of Bella’s youth. Here, the vampire theme of the novels is an advantage because to put all those real life issues into a marathon is quite heavy going. The reason why we can digest it or in this case devour it is because it combines the magic of the unreal. However, this is not to say that the issues in question are lightened: In ‘New Moon’ Bella’s is constantly trying to secure the hole in her chest that Edward has left and has to fight the indulgence of merely thinking about him for a second. This is not flimsy stuff. Instead the issues are made to appear as equilibrium to the excitement of the supernatural. Because a life without complexity is not a life at all whereas it is the way in which Edward and Bella tackle life’s obstacles that is the beauty of the story. We can all relate to the Twilight saga because of our relativity to its reality. In this case the phenomena then becomes more vivid because it is intertwined with every day life and not the other way around.

The last layer of the Twilight apple amongst the many that I would like to address is Meyer’s either conscious or sub conscious Utopian way of living. I am not shooting myself in the foot by saying that Meyer prescribes a certain way of life but presents not only an ideal love, but also an ideal way of living.

Amidst a history of war and blood thirst, allegiances can be made and in effect defy the boundaries of natural positions in order to choose the right path and live harmoniously. Werewolves and vampires fight together and vampire clans from all over the world unite and are willing to fight to the death in order to uphold morality. In ‘Breaking Dawn’ Meyer purposefully avoids a physical war opting for a mental battle of which the Cullens win. Mentality over physicality is an overriding theme throughout the series also linking themes of sexual desire as explained above. However, fighting is not the only theme that invites Utopian ways of living. Again Meyer expresses this in a method of choice. Breaking Dawn does not end with a wedding but begins with it instead. Here everything after the ceremony is what is important giving Edward and Bella a marriage and not just the party. Unlike most romantic films and fiction, Breaking Dawn shows true love in the practical ways of the life in which we all live. The couple do not go horse back riding into the distant sunset but settle down into a life together working out ways in which they can keep their family safe and intact. They learn that trouble can always threaten their family at any point in time but they seem astoundingly grateful for each moment, second, millisecond considering that they are both immortal.

In conclusion to my rant, I shoved Twilight into my friend’s hand and would not take no for an answer. Needless to say she could not put the thing down all holiday unless she paused to look wistfully thinking about Edward Cullen or evil eyed her boyfriend because he was not Edward Cullen. Oh sweet minds… But we have to remember why the Twilight series has this effect on people. Through layers of complex themes and descriptive, intricate relationships, the novels contain a hybrid style which is encompassed by a simple but precise narrative. They remind me of a vast, modern day bildungsroman where the author presents ‘the psychological, moral and social shaping of the personality of a usually young main character’ (wikipedia). However, this is relevant to Bella only in relation to Edward. This is not just Bella’s journey but her and Edward’s as a couple, a unity and because immortality, thousands of years of history and the complexity that I have explained above is entwined into their relationship, their story has a little more depth to it. Well it certainly extracts it from the Kids section.