Theme

Endurance

Not triumph. The decision, renewed, not to unchoose someone.

• England and Rome, 1819 to 1821

  Two Luxuries

  John Keats writes to Fanny Brawne of her loveliness and of the hour of his death. The first is the love. The second is a fact he could not bargain with.

• Joseon, pansori tradition

  Chunhyang at Namwon

  Mongryong and Chunhyang pledge themselves. A magistrate later treats her body as something office can take. The pansori is a story of fidelity. It is also a story of coercion. Name the coercion.

• Heian Japan

  A Gossamer Life

  A wife in a polygamous Fujiwara marriage keeps a record of being left to wait. The diary is not a romance of patience. It is what neglect looks like from inside the house.