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The Twilight Saga (2008), a quartet of young-adult novels by Stephenie Meyer, is wildly popular, if not widely acclaimed. Together, Twilight (2005), New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007), and Breaking Dawn (2008) tell the tale of romance between a self-deprecating but determined teenager, Bella Swan, and an immortal bad-boy vampire with a heart of gold, Edward Cullen. The novels inspired a series of blockbuster films, the conclusion of which will be released in November 2012, and whether they unfold on paper or on screen, the stories attract ardent fans and repel detractors by equal measure. Part of the saga's magnetism emanates from the author's presentation of newly minted editions of ancient archetypes. Stephenie Meyer brings us Volvo-driving vampires, socio-economically marginalized shapeshifters, and an easily inhabitable damsel in distress. Meyer also makes productive use of borrowed material, overtly and unabashedly lifting from seminal works of literature, enabling her heroine and hero to bask in the reflected glow of the likes of Romeo and Juliet, Elizabeth and Darcy — and even in the less salubrious light cast by Brontë's Catherine and Heathcliff. The author has a talent for taking an appealingly familiar plot and adding just enough freshness to make it feel like the rightful property of a new generation of readers.
It is certainly not the literary quality of Meyer's writing that attracts her audience. Dialogue advances plot but largely fails to enhance character (the dialogue in all but the most recent of the films is, if possible, worse). Blithely lacking a sense of self-irony, the author takes the task of writing from an adolescent perspective literally, and as a consequence the prose reads like an agonized diary entry. Nevertheless, Meyer renders the outlines