𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬

Famous authors talking about Dostoevsky

[…] for when one has fire within and a soul, one cannot keep bottling them up – better to burn than to burst […]

Vincent van Gogh, from ‘The Letters of Vincent van Gogh’ ⁠— Wilhelmina van Gogh c. summer or autumn 1887, tr. Arnold Pomerans

Me defending my favourite fictional character: he's not even that bad (meanwhile he has a literal torture chamber in his house and drops chandelier on people)

me coming in from the rain before I read Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera: bit wet out there

me coming in from the rain after I read Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera: YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME BECAUSE I AM ALL WET?... Oh, my dear, it's raining cats and dogs outside!

The best of the best.

"Why, you love him! Your fear, your terror, all of that is just love and love of the most exquisite kind, the kind which people do not admit even to themselves." ... "The kind that gives you a thrill, when you think of it."

— The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux

If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading

One great scene in Phantom of the Opera is in the torture chamber when Raoul and the Daroga hear Erik menacing Christine and first it sounds like she’s crying

- but it’s not her, it’s Erik full-on sobbing while he’s threatening her, and if that doesn’t describe his character perfectly what will

Whoa

Edna St. Vincent Millay, from a diary entry featured in Rapture & Melancholy; The Diaries of Edna St. Vincent Millay

Not just obsession, not just lust, people. That man was in LOVE. “…and love of the most exquisite kind.” What else could have prompted him to give up his one hope for life? It was an act of selflessness, aka divine love. Just read “The End of the Phantom’s Love Story,” I beg you; just look at that forehead kiss.

(Don’t even get me started about the plain gold ring.)

The Phantom of the Opera IS a love story btw. It's inherently a story about love. A lot of people still find it hard to accept it, probably because they're busy with their "I'm smarter than this beloved classic" Edgy Hot Take, this is why it's always important to remind.

It's a story about a man that, because he was abused and denied of love his entire life, he was forced to live with everything he knew about: survival.

It's a story about a man that craved so much for love, that he thought he could buy, or force it, throught talent and lies.

It's a story about compassion, redemption, and most importantly, love. Because Erik loved Christine. The ending is impactful because he loved her. His love for her didn't make him immune to be obsessive nor to hurt her. And if you don't believe Erik loved Christine, you're the one that misunderstood the relationships between these characters and why the story is the way it is in the first place.

A great loss to American Literature. Now he joins the greats.

R.I.P. Cormac McCarthy