Late May, with June weddings in the offing — this is love’s own sweet season, the time of year when people decide to reread “Pride and Prejudice.” Even though Jane Austen’s wit and psychological insight can be pitiless, that masterpiece remains one of literature’s sunniest, happiest books, complete with a fairy-tale ending. Still, the chief fact about love is that most of the time it doesn’t work out. For more realistic accounts of its passion and anguish, you need to turn to French fiction.
