 Cover ofTwilight | |
| Author | Stephenie Meyer |
|---|---|
| Original title | Forks |
| Cover artist | Gail Doobinin (design) Roger Hagadone (photograph) |
| Language | English |
| Series | Twilight series |
| Genre | Young adult,fantasy,romance,vampire |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
Publication date | |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | |
| ISBN | 978-0-316-16017-9 |
| Followed by | New Moon |
Twilight (stylized astwilight) is a 2005young adultvampire-romance novel[7][8] by authorStephenie Meyer. It is the first book in theTwilight series, and introduces seventeen-year-oldIsabella "Bella" Swan, who moves fromPhoenix, Arizona, toForks, Washington. She is endangered after falling in love withEdward Cullen, a 103-year-old vampire frozen in his 17-year-old body. Additional novels in the series areNew Moon,Eclipse, andBreaking Dawn.
Twilight received lukewarm reviews. Some praised the novel's tone and its portrayal of common teenage emotions such asalienation andrebellion. Others criticized Meyer's prose and argued the story was lacking in character development. It reached number five on theNew York Times bestseller list within a month of its release[9] and eventually reached first place.[10] The novel was named one ofPublishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2005.[11]
Thefilm adaptation, released in 2008, was a commercial success, grossing more than $392 million worldwide[12] and making an additional $157 million in North AmericanDVD sales as of July 2009.[13] The book was the biggest-selling of 2008;[14] in 2009, it was the second-biggest selling, losing only to its sequelNew Moon.[15]As of 2008,Twilight had been translated into 37 different languages.[16]
In October 2015, Stephenie Meyer announced a new gender-swapped version of the novel, entitledLife and Death: Twilight Reimagined, with characters Beau and Edythe, in honor of the 10th anniversary ofThe Twilight Saga.[17] In 2020, Meyer releasedMidnight Sun, a retelling of the story ofTwilight from the perspective of Edward Cullen.
Bella Swan, an introverted seventeen-year-old girl, moves fromPhoenix, Arizona, toForks, Washington, on theOlympic Peninsula to live with her father, the town's police chief, after her mother begins life on the road with her new husband, a minor-league baseball player. Bella is admitted toForks High School, where she easily settles in with a group of friends. A somewhat inexperienced and shy girl, Bella is dismayed by several boys competing for her attention.
On the first day of school, Bella sits next to her classmate Edward Cullen during biology class, but he seems to be utterly repulsed by her, much to her bewilderment. He disappears for a week but when he returns, he is unexpectedly friendly to Bella. Their newfound relationship is interrupted after Bella is nearly struck by a van in the school parking lot. Edward saves Bella, narrowly stopping the van with his bare hands. Bella questions Edward about how he saved her life but he refuses to tell her anything.
During a visit toFirst Beach, Bella meets Jacob Black, a local boy from the Quileute tribe. She learns that Edward and the rest of the Cullen family are "cold ones" (vampires) who consume only animal blood. Disturbed by recurring nightmares, Bella researches vampires. She compares the characteristics of the vampires in mythology to the Cullens and becomes convinced that Edward is a vampire.
Bella is saved by Edward again inPort Angeles when she is almost attacked by a group of men. Furious, Edward drives Bella away and takes her to a restaurant for dinner and then back home. Edward confesses that he is able to read minds. On the way, she tells him she knows that he is a vampire. Edward confirms her belief and confesses that Bella's blood is more desirable to him than anyone else's and he wanted to kill her on the first day of school. He tried to stay away from Bella to avoid hurting her, but over time, Edward and Bella fell in love.
Their relationship is affected when a nomadicvampire coven arrives in Forks.James, a tracker vampire, who is intrigued by Cullen's relationship with a human, wants to hunt Bella for sport. Bella and Edward are forced to separate as Bella escapes with Alice and Jasper (Edward's brother and sister) to hide in a hotel in Phoenix.
James calls Bella and claims to be holding her mother hostage. Bella sneaks out and hurries to save her mother. When she arrives, she finds that the hostage claim was a ruse. James attacks and bites her, but before he can kill her, she is rescued by Edward and the other Cullens, who kill James. Edward prevents Bella from becoming a vampire by sucking the venom out of her wound, and she is treated at a hospital, using the story that she fell out of a window as an excuse.
After they return to Forks, Edward takes her to the school prom, as Edward did not want Bella to miss any normal human experience because of him. Bella says that she wants to be transformed into a vampire, but Edward reiterates he is against this.
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Meyer has claimed that the idea forTwilight came to her on June 2, 2003 in a dream about a human girl who loved avampire, who loved her but still wanted her blood. Meyer wrote the draft of what is now Chapter 13 of the book inspired by the dream.[21] The first drafts were titledForks instead ofTwilight; the publisher requested the title change. Meyer eventually named the main characters Edward, influenced byEdward Rochester fromCharlotte Brontë'sJane Eyre andEdward Ferrars fromJane Austen'sSense and Sensibility, and Isabella, thinking she would have chosen that for a daughter. Rosalie and Jasper were originally named Carol and Ronald.[22]
Meyer continued writing to the end chronologically, not worrying about the backstory. However, she realized that she wanted to explore many of the events in the backstory and the reasons behind the events in the chapters, so she planned to write a 5-6 chapter backstory. Instead, these turned into 24 chapters[clarification needed] by the time she was finished.[23] In a matter of three months she had completed a novel.[24] She has said she was writing for her own enjoyment, never thinking of publishing the work.[25] She finished the manuscript on August 29, 2003.[26]
Her sister liked the book and encouraged Meyer to send the manuscript to literary agencies.[27] Of the 15 letters she wrote, five went unanswered, nine brought rejections, and the last was a positive response from Jodi Reamer of Writers House.[28] Meyer had merely sent out letters to literary agents inquiring if they would be interested in a 130,000-word manuscript about teenage vampires.[29] An inexperienced assistant at Writers House responded to her inquiry, not knowing that young adult books are expected to be about 40,000 to 60,000 words in length.[29] Due to that error, Reamer eventually read Meyer's manuscript and signed her up as a client.[29] During the editing process, a chapter that used to be Chapter 20 was cut out of the manuscript along with Emmett's account of his bear attack and some parts of the epilogue.[30]
Stephenie Meyer has said the apple on the cover represents theforbidden fruit from theBook of Genesis and Bella and Edward's forbidden love. She uses a quote from Genesis 2:17 at the beginning of the book. It also represents Bella's knowledge of good and evil and the choices she makes.[31] Meyer says, "It asks if you are going to bite in and discover the frightening possibilities around you or refuse and stay safe in the comfortable world you know."[32] A later alternative cover featuresKristen Stewart andRobert Pattinson, the actors who play the lead characters in the film adaptation.
Meyer's inquiry letter was initially rejected by 14 agents.[34] Eight publishers competed for the rights to publishTwilight in the 2003 auction.[28]Little, Brown and Company originally bid for $300,000, but Meyer's agent asked for $1 million; the publishers finally settled on $750,000 for three books.[35]Twilight was published in 2005 with a print run of 75,000 copies.[28] It debuted at #5 on theNew York Times Best Seller list within a month of its release,[9] and later peaked at #1.[10] Foreign rights to the novel were sold to over 26 countries.[36]
In October 2008,Twilight was ranked #26 inUSA Today's list of "Bestselling Books of Last 15 Years".[37] Later, the book went on to become the best-selling book of 2008.[38] and the second biggest selling of 2009, only behind its sequelNew Moon.[39]
For the tenth anniversary of the book's release, Meyer releasedLife and Death: Twilight Reimagined, alongside the originalTwilight.Life and Death is a reimagining of the story with Beau (a male human) and Edythe (a female vampire) as the leads.
On August 4, 2020, Meyer released the Twilight companion pieceMidnight Sun.Midnight Sun is the story ofTwilight as told from Edward Cullen's perspective.
The Times praised the book for capturing "perfectly the teenage feeling of sexual tension and alienation".[40] Hillias J. Martin ofSchool Library Journal addresses the appeal of the novel to be due to its clear and understandable nature, allowing readers to become fully engaged[41] Norah Piehl ofTeenReads also wrote, "Twilight is a gripping blend of romance and horror".[42]Publishers Weekly's starred review described Bella's "infatuation with outsider Edward", their risky relationship, and "Edward's inner struggle" as a metaphor for sexual frustration accompanying adolescence.[43]Booklist wrote, "There are some flaws here–a plot that could have been tightened, an over reliance onadjectives andadverbs to bolster dialogue–but this dark romance seeps into the soul."[44] Christopher Middleton ofThe Daily Telegraph called the book a "high school drama with a bloody twist ... no secret, of course, at whom this book is aimed, and no doubt, either, that it has hit its mark".[45] Jennifer Hawes ofThe Post and Courier said, "Twilight, the first book in Stephenie Meyer's series, gripped me so fiercely that I called the nearest teenager I know and begged for her copy after I misplaced my own."[46] Roberta Goli ofSuite101.com gave the novel a positive review, saying that while "the first half of the novel lacks action", the writing is "fluid" and the story "interesting". She also praised the depth of emotion shown between the main characters for pinpointing "the angst of teenage love." Jana Reiss noted the presence of Mormon themes in theTwilight series, seeing Edward Cullen's struggle against carnal desires as an example of Mormonism's "natural man."[47]
Kirkus gave a more mixed review, noting that, "[Twilight] is far from perfect: Edward's portrayal as monstrous tragic hero is overly Byronic, and Bella's appeal is based on magic rather than character. Nonetheless, the portrayal of dangerous lovers hits the spot; fans of dark romance will find it hard to resist."[48] TheNew York Times review stated, "The premise ofTwilight is attractive and compelling — who hasn't fantasized about unearthly love with a beautiful stranger? — but the book suffers at times from overearnest, amateurish writing. A little more "showing" and a lot less "telling" might have been a good thing, especially some pruning to eliminate the constant references to Edward's shattering beauty and Bella's undying love."[49] Although theDaily Telegraph later listedTwilight at number 32 on its list of "100 books that defined the noughties", it said that the novel was "Astonishing, mainly for the ineptitude of [Meyer's] prose".[50] Elizabeth Hand said in a review for theWashington Post, "Meyer's prose seldom rises above the serviceable, and the plotting is leaden".[51]
Twilight was on theAmerican Library Association Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2010, for containing a "religious viewpoint" and "violence".[52] TheTwilight series was on the same list in 2009 for being "sexually explicit", "unsuited to age group", and having a "religious viewpoint".[53] The Marshall University Libraries pinpoint specific reasons several schools have removed the novel from libraries,[54] citing the hyper-sexual nature of the novel, as well as religious objections to the plot.[54]
The second book,New Moon, was originally published in the US on August 21, 2006.Eclipse was published on August 7, 2007. The fourth and final novel,Breaking Dawn, is the longest book in the originaltetralogy at 756 pages in the US hardcover version, and 700 pages in the US paperback release. It was published worldwide on August 2, 2008, and sold over 1.3 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release in the US.[55]
Furthermore, on June 5, 2010, Meyer publishedThe Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.[56]This book dives into Bree Tanner's experience as a new vampire.[56] Then, on October 6, 2015, she releasedLife and Death, a retelling ofTwilight with reversed gender roles.[56] Most recently, Meyer releasedMidnight Sun on August 4, 2020,[56] which retellsTwilight from Edward Cullen's point of view.
Amanga-styleJapanese language version of theTwilight saga was released in 13 installments. The books, which were primarily text, featured illustrated pages of art sprinkled throughout the book.[57]
Twilight was adapted as a film bySummit Entertainment. The film was directed byCatherine Hardwicke and starsKristen Stewart andRobert Pattinson as protagonists Bella and Edward. The screenplay was adapted byMelissa Rosenberg. The movie was released in theaters in the United States on November 21, 2008,[56] and onDVD on March 21, 2009.[58] The DVD was released inAustralia on April 22, 2009.[59]
On July 15, 2009,Entertainment Weekly confirmed rumors that agraphic novel adaptation ofTwilight was in development. The book was drawn byKorean artist Young Kim and published byYen Press. Stephenie Meyer reviewed every panel herself. According toEW, "it doesn't look simply like an artist's rendering of Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson. In fact, the characters seem to be an amalgam of Meyer's literary imagination and the actors' actual looks."EW magazine published finished illustrations of Edward, Bella, and Jacob in their July 17, 2009 issue.[60] The first part of the graphic novel was released on March 16, 2010.[61]
SM:"He's such a pessimist—oh my gosh, Edward's a pessimist."
SH:"...there's something a little Rochestery about Edward for me." SM:"Yeah."
SM:...And I finished it around my brother's wedding, which was—he just had his anniversary—I think it was the twenty-ninth of August?
It asks if you are going to bite in and discover the frightening possibilities around you or refuse and stay safe in the comfortable world you know.
Quotations related toTwilight (Meyer novel) at Wikiquote
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