Altruism Across Cultures

The themes of love and sacrifice have been one of the popular areas in literature and they are closely connected to each other. To study the relationship between these ideas in more depth this volume will focus on a range of texts over an extensive time period across different cultures from all around the world. The different eras that these texts explore will be instrumental in establishing the type of connection which these two concepts hold in literature. The type of love and sacrifice varies; however, the underlying message is the same right through the texts, that humans in the right context will make sacrifices for love no matter where they live and no matter which culture they have been raised in and no matter which period of time the characters/ authors have lived in. In order to show the eternal bonding between love and sacrifice and how this bonding is highlighted, this book will select different texts from different cultures and different time periods. The characters who are in love or who are in the throes of yearning find themselves in a position to rebel against the restrictions of the society and/or fate. However, they are ready to make sacrifices physically, emotionally, intellectually and fatally.