Twilight
Main article: Twilight (novel)
Bella Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to live with her father in Forks, Washington to allow her mother to travel with her new husband, a minor league baseball player. After moving to Forks, Bella finds herself involuntarily drawn to a mysterious, handsome boy, Edward Cullen.
She eventually learns that he is a member of a vampire family who
drinks animal blood rather than human blood. Edward and Bella fall in
love, while James, a sadistic vampire from another coven, is drawn to
hunt down Bella. Edward and the other Cullens defend Bella. She escapes
to Phoenix, Arizona,
where she is tricked into confronting James, who tries to kill her. She
is seriously wounded, but Edward rescues her and they return to Forks.New Moon
Main article: New Moon (novel)
Edward and his family leave Forks because he believes he is
endangering Bella's life. Bella goes into a depression until she
develops a strong friendship with Jacob Black,
whom she discovers can shape-shift into a wolf. Jacob and the other
wolves in his tribe must protect her from Victoria, a vampire seeking to
avenge the death of her mate James. Due to a misunderstanding, Edward
believes Bella is dead. Edward decides to commit suicide in Volterra, Italy, but is stopped by Bella, who is accompanied by Edward's sister, Alice. They meet with the Volturi,
a powerful vampire coven, and are released only on the condition that
Bella be turned into a vampire in the near future. Bella and Edward are
reunited, and she and the Cullens return to Forks.Eclipse
Main article: Eclipse (Meyer novel)
Victoria has created an army of "newborn" vampires to battle the
Cullen family and murder Bella for revenge. Meanwhile, Bella is
compelled to choose between her relationship with Edward and her
friendship with Jacob. Edward's vampire family and Jacob's werewolf pack
join forces to successfully destroy Victoria and her vampire army. In
the end, Bella chooses Edward's love over Jacob's friendship and agrees
to marry Edward.Breaking Dawn
Main article: Breaking Dawn
Bella and Edward are married, but their honeymoon
is cut short when Bella discovers that she is pregnant. Her pregnancy
progresses rapidly, severely weakening her. She nearly dies giving birth
to her and Edward's half-vampire-half-human daughter, Renesmee.
Edward injects Bella with his venom to save her life and turns her into
a vampire. A vampire from another coven sees Renesmee and mistakes her
for an "immortal child". She informs the Volturi,
as the existence of such beings violates vampire law. The Cullens
gather vampire witnesses who can verify that Renesmee is not an immortal
child. After an intense confrontation, the Cullens and their witnesses
convince the Volturi that the child poses no danger to vampires or their
secret, and they are left in peace by the Volturi.Main characters
See also: List of Twilight characters
- Bella Swan: The protagonist of the series, teenager Bella is a perpetually clumsy "danger magnet" with dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is often portrayed as having low self-esteem and unable to comprehend Edward's love for her. She has an immunity to supernatural abilities involving the mind, such as Edward's mind-reading ability. After her transformation into a vampire in the saga's fourth installment, Bella acquires the ability to shield both herself and others from "mental harm" from other vampires.
- Edward Cullen: Edward is a vampire who lives with a coven of like-minded vampires known as the Cullen family, who feed on animals rather than humans. Over the course of the Twilight series, Edward falls in love with, marries, and then has a child with Bella. At first, Edward feels a mutual hatred toward Jacob Black because of his love for Bella, but in Breaking Dawn, he comes to see Jacob as a brother and friend. Like some vampires, Edward has a supernatural ability: mind reading. It allows him to read anyone's thoughts within a few miles' radius. Bella is immune to his power as a human, but learns how to lower this "shield" after her transformation to a vampire.
- Jacob Black: A minor character in the first novel, Jacob is introduced as a member of the Quileute tribe. He resurfaces in New Moon with a larger role as Bella's best friend as she struggles through her depression over losing Edward. Although he is in love with Bella, she initially sees him as just her best friend. He and other tribe members can shape-shift into wolves. In Eclipse Bella realizes that she loves Jacob, though her feelings for him are overpowered by her love for Edward Cullen. In Breaking Dawn, Jacob finds a soul mate in Bella and Edward's baby daughter, Renesmee, ridding him of his heartache for Bella.
Setting
Forks, Washington
Structure and genre
The Twilight series falls under the genre of young adult, fantasy, and romance, though Meyer categorized her first book, Twilight, as "suspense romance horror comedy".[9] However, she states that she considers her books as "romance more than anything else".[9] The series explores the unorthodox romance between human Bella and vampire Edward, as well as the love triangle between Bella, Edward, and Jacob, a werewolf.[10] The books avoid delving into provocative sex, drugs, and harsh swearing because, according to Meyer, "I don't think teens need to read about gratuitous sex."[11]The books are written in first-person narrative, primarily through Bella's eyes with the epilogue of the third book and a part of the fourth book being from Jacob's point of view. When asked about the structure of the novel, Meyer described her difficulty in pinpointing the premise of the novels to any specific their category:
I have a hard time with that. Because if I say to someone, 'You know, it's about vampires,' then immediately they have this mental image of what the book is like. And it's so not like the other vampire books out there–Anne Rice's and the few that I've read. It isn't that kind of dark and dreary and blood-thirsty world. Then when you say, 'It's set in high school,' a lot of people immediately put it in another pool. It's easy to pigeonhole with different descriptions.[12]The books are based on the vampire myth, but Twilight vampires differ in a number of particulars from the general vampire lore. For instance, Twilight vampires have strong piercing teeth rather than fangs; they glitter in sunlight rather than burn; and they can drink animal as well as human blood. Meyer comments that her vampire mythology differs from that of other authors because she wasn't informed about the canon vampires, saying,
It wasn't until I knew that Twilight would be published that I began to think about whether my vampires were too much the same or too much different from the others. Of course, I was far too invested in my characters at that point to be making changes... so I didn't cut out fangs and coffins and so forth as a way to distinguish my vampires; that's just how they came to me.[13]
Inspiration and themes
According to the author, her books are "about life, not death" and "love, not lust".[14] Each book in the series was inspired by and loosely based on a different literary classic: Twilight on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, New Moon on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Eclipse on Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, and Breaking Dawn on a second Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream.[15] Meyer also states that Orson Scott Card and L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series are a big influence on her writing.[12] As for the Cullens, she based them on her own family.[16]Other major themes of the series include choice and free will.[12][17] Meyer says that the books are centered around Bella's choice to choose her life on her own, and the Cullens' choices to abstain from killing rather than follow their temptations: "I really think that's the underlying metaphor of my vampires. It doesn't matter where you're stuck in life or what you think you have to do; you can always choose something else. There's always a different path."[17]
Meyer, a Mormon, acknowledges that her faith has influenced her work. In particular, she says that her characters "tend to think more about where they came from, and where they are going, than might be typical."[11] Meyer also steers her work from subjects such as sex, despite the romantic nature of the novels. Meyer says that she does not consciously intend her novels to be Mormon-influenced, or to promote the virtues of sexual abstinence and spiritual purity, but admits that her writing is shaped by her values, saying, "I don't think my books are going to be really graphic or dark, because of who I am. There's always going to be a lot of light in my stories."[18]
Origins and publishing history
Stephenie Meyer says that the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream on June 2, 2003. The dream was about a human girl, and a vampire who was in love with her but thirsted for her blood. Based on this dream, Meyer wrote the transcript of what is now chapter 13 of the book.[19] Despite having very little writing experience, in a matter of three months she had transformed that dream into a completed novel.[17] After writing and editing the novel, she signed a three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company for $750,000, an unusually high amount for a first time author.[20] Megan Tingley, the editor who signed Meyer, says that halfway through the reading manuscript she realized that she had a future bestseller in her hands.[21] The book was released in 2005.Following the success of Twilight, Meyer expanded the story into a series with three more books: New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007), and Breaking Dawn (2008). In its first week after publication, the first sequel, New Moon, debuted at #5 on the New York Times Best Seller List for Children's Chapter Books, and in its second week rose to the #1 position, where it remained for the next eleven weeks. In total, it spent over 50 weeks on the list.[22] After the release of Eclipse, the first three "Twilight" books spent a combined 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List.[17] The fourth installment of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, was released with an initial print run of 3.7 million copies.[23] Over 1.3 million copies were sold on the first day alone, setting a record in first-day sales performance for the Hachette Book Group USA.[24] Upon the completion of the fourth entry in the series, Meyer indicated that Breaking Dawn would be the final novel to be told from Bella Swan's perspective.[25] In 2008 and 2009, the four books of the series claimed the top four spots on USA Today's year-end bestseller list, making Meyer the first author to ever achieve this feat.[26][27] The series then won the 2009 Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Book, where it competed against the Harry Potter series.[4]
Other books
Meyer originally planned to write a companion book to Twilight called Midnight Sun, which would be the story of Twilight told from Edward Cullen's point-of-view. She stated that Twilight was the only book that she planned to rewrite from Edward's perspective.[28] However, a rough draft of Midnight Sun's first twelve chapters was leaked on the internet. Meyer has since put these twelve chapters on her website so that her fans could read them for free,[29] but has put the project on hold indefinitely due to her feelings about the situation. She stated,If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely.[30]Though she has no current plans to do so, Meyer has also stated that if she were to continue writing in the same universe she would write from the perspective of either Leah Clearwater or Bella and Edward's daughter, Renesmee Cullen.[31]
On March 16, 2010 Yen Press released Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1, by artist Young Kim based on the first book in the series.[32] In February 2011, the graphic novel won the 2010 Gem Awards Best Manga of the Year.[33] The sequel, Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 2 was released on October 11, 2011[34] and followed Volume 1 in topping The New York Times Best Seller list for Hardcover Graphic Books in its first week.[35] On March 30, 2010, Meyer revealed on her official website that she will be releasing a new novella in the series, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, which tells the story of a newborn vampire who appeared in Eclipse, on June 5, 2010.[1] An electronic version of the book was made available free from her web site, as well as in bookstores.[36]
On October 5, 2010, Little, Brown and Company announced that The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, a definitive encyclopedic reference for the saga including character profiles, outtakes, a conversation with Meyer, genealogical charts, maps and extensive cross-references with nearly 100 full color illustrations, was to be released on April 12, 2011, after many publication delays since 2008.[37] It debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list, where it stayed for three consecutive weeks,[38][39][40] and at #4 on the USA Today Best Seller list.[41]
Reception
The response to Twilight has been mixed. While the books have become immensely popular, they have also generated much controversy.Positive reception
Twilight has gathered acclaim for its popularity with its target readers. The Times lauded it for capturing "perfectly the teenage feeling of sexual tension and alienation."[42] Other reviews described Twilight as an "exquisite fantasy",[43] and a "gripping blend of romance and horror".[44] Lev Grossman of Time wrote that the books have a "pillowy quality distinctly reminiscent of Internet fan fiction", but still praised the series, comparing it to The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter:People do not want to just read Meyer's books; they want to climb inside them and live there... There's no literary term for the quality Twilight and Harry Potter (and The Lord of the Rings) share, but you know it when you see it: their worlds have a freestanding internal integrity that makes you feel as if you should be able to buy real estate there.[17]Most of the reviews, however, have focused on Twilight's popularity instead of its literary quality. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer called the book a "hot new teen novel",[45] Entertainment Weekly called Meyer "the world's most popular vampire novelist since Anne Rice",[46] The New York Times described Twilight as a "literary phenomenon",[47] and Matt Arado of Daily Herald noted that the Twilight books have become the "hottest publishing phenomenon since a certain bespectacled wizard cast his spell on the world."[48] The large and diverse online fan community of the series are often noted, sometimes even being called "cult-like".[49] Despite this, the series is often considered to have a wider appeal; Crystal Mack of Daily Herald said, "While teenage girls are the main audience, young boys and adults of both genders have also been swept up in the phenomenon."[50]
A store catering to tourists interested in the Twilight series in Forks, Washington.
Negative reception
The series has garnered some notoriety both over its literary substance and over the type of relationship portrayed in the books.Many have derided the series as poor writing. While comparing Stephenie Meyer to J. K. Rowling, Stephen King said, "the real difference [between Rowling and Meyer] is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer, and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."[61][62] However, King understood the appeal of the series, adding, "People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it's very clear that she's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It's exciting and it's thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because it's not overtly sexual."[62]
A quote from Robin Browne (though frequently misattributed to King or Andrew Futral)[63] negatively compares the Twilight and Harry Potter book series thusly: "Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity… Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend".[64]
Laura Miller of Salon.com wrote that "the characters, such as they are, are stripped down to a minimum, lacking the texture and idiosyncrasies of actual people", and said that "Twilight would be a lot more persuasive as an argument that an 'amazing heart' counts for more than appearances if it didn't harp so incessantly on Edward's superficial splendors."[65]
Elizabeth Hand of The Washington Post wrote, "Meyer's prose seldom rises above the serviceable, and the plotting is leaden."[66] The article, featured on the Yahoo! website Shine, also criticized the books and the author's final word on the series was, "Good books deal with themes of longing and loneliness, sexual passion and human frailty, alienation and fear just as the Twilight books do. But they do so by engaging us with complexities of feeling and subtleties of character, expressed in language that rises above banal mediocrity. Their reward is something more than just an escape into banal mediocrity. We deserve something better to get hooked on."[67][68]
The books have also been widely critiqued as promoting, normalizing, and idealizing an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. Sci-fi website i09 noted that Bella and Edward's relationship meets all fifteen criteria set by the National Domestic Violence Hotline for being in an abusive relationship.[69] L. Lee Butler of Young Adult Library Services Association commented how he was unusually hesitant to stock the Twilight books in his library because he felt the books were "robbing [teen girls] of agency and normalizing stalking and abusive behavior."[70] Many female-oriented and feminist media outlets, like Jezebel,[71] The Frisky,[72] and Salon.com have decried Twilight as promoting an anti-woman message.[73] Bitch magazine stated the novels "had created a new, popular genre of "abstinence porn", concluding that, "In reality, the abstinence message—wrapped in the genre of abstinence porn—objectifies Bella in the same ways that 'real' porn might. The Twilight books conflate Bella losing her virginity with the loss of other things, including her sense of self and her very life. Such a high-stakes treatment of abstinence reinforces the idea that Bella is powerless, an object, a fact that is highlighted when we get to the sex scenes in Breaking Dawn."[74] Ms. declared that Twilight promotes a physically abusive relationship and an anti-abortion message.[75] However, writer Angela Aleiss of Religion News Service said that contrary to popular opinion, Mormons do permit abortion when the mother's life is in danger. Bella's refusal to abort her fetus, along with her quick marriage and pregnancy, instead underscore the Mormon emphasis on family.[76]
Various psychology experts have come out in agreement with the assessment of the relationship as abusive.[77] Melissa Henson, Director of communication and public education for the Parents Television Council, stated:
To impressionable teens, domestic violence is almost romanticized. We’ve made great strides in recent years in clearly communicating the message that is never okay to hit a woman...Today, the hidden message in the entertainment consumed by many impressionable teens is that if he hits you, it is out of love – which is absolutely wrong.[78]Many entertainment and media outlets have made similar comments on the abusive nature of Bella and Edward's relationship, including Entertainment Weekly,[79] Movieline,[80] and Mediabistro.com.[81]
Meyer has dismissed such criticisms, arguing both that the books center around Bella's choice, which she perceives as the foundation of modern feminism, and that Bella's damsel in distress persona is due only to her humanity.[82] Meyer also added, "Just because [Bella] doesn't do kung fu and she cooks for her father doesn't make her worthy of that criticism".[83] Shannon Simcox of The Daily Collegian has similarly dismissed the criticism surrounding Bella, commenting, "While Bella plays the perfect damsel in distress that gets herself into sticky situations, she is also very in control of herself. She chose to move to Forks and be in a new place; she constantly faces a bunch of people who want to suck the life right out of her, and she is constantly pleading to become a vampire, too, so she can take care of herself and Edward."[84]
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