People are always fascinated by infidelity because, in the end—whether we’ve had direct experience or not—there’s part of you that knows there’s absolutely no more piercing betrayal. People are undone by it. Love is understood, in a historical way, as one of the great human vocations—but its counterspell has always been infidelity. This terrible, terrible betrayal that can tear apart not only another person, not only oneself, but whole families.
In the archaic record, this idea of infidelity is elevated to a national level: In The Iliad, we see this kind of treachery tear apart nations. And I think anyone who’s ever been betrayed like that certainly feels a little bit of the Troy in them. When your heart gets torn to bits, it feels like a nation being torn to bits.
So there’s the epic scale, but then it’s so extraordinarily intimate. I think that the combination is really a brilliant one-two punch.
" — Junot Diaz (via thebardofavon)
