Love, in Theory

In this funny, brainy, thoroughly engaging debut collection, an award-winning writer looks at romance through the lens of scholarly theories to illuminate love in the information age. In ten captivating and tender stories, E. J. Levy takes readers through the surprisingly erotic terrain of the intellect, offering a smart and modern take on the age-old theme of loveOCowhether between a man and woman, a man and a man, a woman and a woman, or a mother and a childOCodrawing readers into tales of passion, adultery, and heartbreak. A disheartened English professorOCOs life changes when she goes rock climbing and falls for an outdoorsman. A gay oncologist attending his sisterOCOs second wedding ponders dark matter in the universe and the ties that bind us. Three psychiatric patients, each convinced that he is Christ, give rise to a love affair in a small Minnesota town. A Brooklyn woman is thrown out of an ashram for choosing earthly love over enlightenment. A lesbian student of film learns theories of dramatic action the hard wayOCoby falling for a married male professor. Incorporating theories from physics to film to philosophy, from Rational Choice to Thorstein VeblenOCOs Theory of the Leisure Class, these stories movingly explore the heart and mindOCoshooting cupidOCOs arrow toward a target that may never be reached.