Love in a Green Shade examines for the first time in depth the reception history of Daphnis and Chloe in literature, beginning with its Renaissance rediscovery and working through its various transformations in English, French, Spanish, and other literatures. At the same time, Richard F. Hardin launches a groundbreaking exploration of the idyllic romance tradition in fiction and drama.
While Virgil and Theocritus beget a tradition of poetry concerned with male eroticism, idyllic romance centers on the couple in a story pointing toward marriage. In addition to Daphnis and Chloe, this study considers numerous works influenced by the idyllic romance tradition, including Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Bernardin’s Paul et Virginie, Stowe’s The Pearl of Orr’s Island, Cather’s O Pioneers!, novels by Sand, Hardy, and Pardo Bazan, Louis Hemon’s Maria Chapdelaine, and Mishima’s The Sound of Waves.