Stephanie Meyer
Twilight

Writer Stephanie Meyer achieved immense success with the Twilight saga. Success already known in America, best seller, and now a film acclaimed by millions of young people. I do not hide that I had never been aware of the existence of this already well-known saga until the film was released in cinemas; but I would not omit the issue that in Italy the publication of foreign works in translation arrives with years and years of delay; Twilight, for example, was translated in Italy about 5 years later...

Leaving this aside, why did this film and first this book achieve such great success among young people in most Western countries? I believe there is a rather logical answer: the film's actors, who certainly attracted not only young girls (for the character of Edward played by the actor who appeared in the fourth Harry Potter movie, Robert Pattinson) but also boys, thanks to the presence of the charming actress (Kristen Stewart, who played the part of Bella). Both actors are undoubtedly beautiful and talented, which prompted them to buy the book immediately after seeing and appreciating the film.

Personally, I watched the film and read all four books of the saga in less than twenty days. And I believe that this is a record not only for me but for millions of people who have devoured these books in a very short time, in my opinion well-written and flowing. Perhaps many people found Meyer's style pleasant: few dialogues; elaborate but not dispersive descriptions; the first-person narration, the experiences directly lived by the protagonist, and sometimes by other important characters in the novel, which make the reader understand the personalities, the most intimate desires, and above all the fascinating and banal psychology of the girl. Fascinating and banal, it seems to me, in my opinion, a perfect combination to describe the character of Bella Swan. I would start by saying why I consider her banal: I believe Meyer was inspired by twenty-first-century girls, but not my generation, which, although not that ancient (1990), is certainly not comparable to that of now. She took as a model for her protagonist an ordinary girl and transformed her into the eternal love of a vampire by no means banal, ordinary, or cruel, but a true gentleman, a "person" cultured, interesting, with an old-fashioned way... all requirements that would attract anyone! Bella desires nothing but him, his eternal love, supernatural beauty, charm, elegance... and for all the books (except the last one) she can't wait to also be part of a world made of such perfect and fascinating beings as vampires are.

I think Meyer's novelty lies neither in the figure of the protagonist nor in centering the novel on an impossible love story, since these themes are often taken up in innumerable novels. What I think attracts most is precisely the innovative figure of the vampire, which almost completely detaches from the classic vampire of Bram Stoker, whose themes are explicitly of the Gothic period, with related macabre and gruesome descriptions typical of the Gothic. He is a "new vampire," and in particular, this vampire, Edward, is a truly unusual character. What vampire would treat with gentleness or love his prey? What force surpasses the craving for human blood, leading him to feed only on animal blood? Not to mention his true appearance in sunlight: a marble body for perfection, entirely covered by fragments of diamonds. Certainly, it is not a feeling of fear or terror that it provokes, and here I am referring to the female readers..!

What leads Bella to fall in love with Edward is more than evident. What girl today hasn't once dreamed of or hoped for a perfect life with a young man (but from this moment, a vampire would do just fine) fascinating and perfect with whom to share eternity in perfection and passion? The problem, however, is that Bella desires nothing else from life, has no particular interests, dreams, that do not exclusively concern Edward, Edward, Edward... This is why she is not a character that arouses admiration from me, but at the same time, I am fascinated by how the writer led readers, in some parts of the novel, to feel like the protagonist. And not because one believes more in Prince Charming, but because it's lovely to relive old dreams through Bella. It's nice to rediscover what dreams, desires, we have set aside for growth. One doesn't even realize when one stops dreaming and begins to live when our dreams give way to the reality of facts and disillusionment. These are feelings of nostalgia, sadness, and emotion that Meyer has managed to evoke in the reader, and I think this is the beauty of the novel, which at first glance seems to have none.

It is not a novel to "read for the sake of reading," but I believe that going beyond the love story of the protagonists requires much more effort than reading more than a thousand pages (considering all four books) in a very short time, and then placing the books on the shelf, adding them to the collection of romance novels. But this is, of course, a subjective opinion.