love and its absence

Sylvia disapproves of the way that contemporary American culture revolves notions of happiness and sadness, of success and failure, around love. This obsession with relationships, she thinks, is "totally freaky and sort of sad." Sylvia wants you to believe that she is different.

Sylvia detests her last lover, Paul, for dumping her and then moving to Prague on a whim and almost immediately reaching new heights of success in some European art and sculpting community. Sylvia is depressed by her current lover, David, who talks on the phone at night about how bored he is, and who recently joked that if things don't work out, they should consider modeling their relationship after Liz Lemon and Jack from 30 Rock because he is "clearly the successful business type" and she is "clearly the struggling middle-aged woman type."

The only things Sylvia can ever think to write about are references to either Paul or David. Sylvia despises the fact that all her stories are about love (and its absence) and relationships (in all their failures). Sylvia comes to the conclusion that she should no longer continue on the career path of becoming an author. Grudgingly, Sylvia admits to herself this: "there is no need for fiction."