Ms. Lionel Shriver, novelist, ponders a paradox:

In our private lives, we consider it our right to leave even long-term relationships if we're miserable; with imaginary people, we apply the stricter, fustier mores of the 1950s. So, deep down, might Americans still prize loyalty over the pursuit of happiness?

and concludes:

For the morally grounded, infidelity comes with built-in retribution: the anguish of reading your own story, and instinctively siding with someone else; the supreme discomfort of playing the part of a character who, in a book or movie, you would not like. Indeed, the novel proposes that for anyone with a heart, betraying and being betrayed may feel equally awful.

The money phrase: "atmosphere of exception." Exactly what is created by the battle scene in Act II of FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, and, somewhat more innocently, by the situation in Act I of DIE WALKÜRE.

Good belated Valentine's Day reading. (Wonder if her novels are as good.)