Cupid's
chemistry
Gabi and Rolf Froböse; translated and edited by Michael Gross:
Lust and love: is it more than chemistry?
RSC publishing July 2006
Hardback: ISBN 0-85404-867-7
£ 24.95, € 35.60, $ 49.95, pp 169 + xii
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Preface
Love presumably is as old as mankind. Accordingly, it is a thread that runs through innumerable books, from antiquity through to modern literature. The situation is similar in the visual arts, where the “topic no. 1” also takes centre stage. Desire and passion have also inspired music, from mediaeval minnesong, via French chanson and the Beatles, through to today’s popular music.
Nevertheless, love is also a phenomenon that is poorly understood. It is described in terms such as “undescribably beautiful,” “mysterious,” or “exciting.” But what is it really all about?
“Love is just a word,” the Austrian author Johannes Mario Simmel said, possibly reflecting his personal experience. Slightly more promising, Henry Miller called it a “boogie-woogie of emotions.”
The “poems in prose” of the German author Margot Bickel relate the longing of all human beings for happiness, peace, and togetherness. On the nature of love she writes:
“What is love?
Perhaps, silent understanding,
patient questioning, understanding perseverance,
tender togetherness, reliable standing up for each other,
common search, conciliatory arguments,
to be there and stay there,
and now and again roses and a kiss?"
In contrast to Margot Bickel who withholds the answer, fellow German author Andreas Mäckler provides many. In his book “Was ist Liebe ...? 1001 Zitate geben 1001 Antworten,” he provides an overwhelming variety of statements, hypotheses, claims and affirmations ranking around the topic of love.
“Love is chemistry!” When the authors make this bold claim it’s not a question of adding a 1002nd thesis about love to the catalogue of interpretations. While this definition does not flow from the pen of a philosopher or literary genius, it is not meant to be a provocative statement floating in mid-air either. Rather, it is the summary of modern interdisciplinary research involving chemists, medical experts, brain researchers, hormone specialists, and biochemists. Together they have succeeded in gradually understanding the human life processes and in interpreting the underlying functions in terms of chemical reactions.
With this, we don’t want to degrade life to “pure chemistry.” On the other hand, we should emphasize that chemistry is not a human invention, but that everything in Nature is based on it. This is true for the dust of the Sahara desert as well as for the plancton of the oceans and for the rock crystal as well as for plants, animals and humans. Even if we enjoy a delicious meal, experience joy, or fall in love, chemistry is pulling the strings behind the scenes.
We invite you to join us and our fictional couple Bianca and Michael on a fantastic journey through the chemistry of the senses, which governs, love, desire, and passion, and thus makes life worth living.
Wasserburg (Germany), December 2005
Gabriele and Dr. Rolf Froböse
Order Lust and love from:
On the same topic, see also:
Gross M:
Chemistry World 3,
No 2, 32-35
Cupid's chemistry
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Other editions and translations:
Lust und Liebe -- alles nur Chemie?
(German Original)
Wiley-VCH 2004, ISBN: 3-527-30823-7
last update:
06.02.2008