![]() Cover of Twilight | |
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 as twilight) is a 2005 young adult vampire-romance novel [7] [8] by author Stephenie Meyer. It is the first book in the Twilight series, and introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella "Bella" Swan, who moves from Phoenix, Arizona, to Forks, Washington. She is endangered after falling in love with Edward Cullen, a 103-year-old vampire frozen in his 17-year-old body. Additional novels in the series are New Moon , Eclipse , and Breaking Dawn .
Twilight received lukewarm reviews. Some praised the novel's tone and its portrayal of common teenage emotions such as alienation and rebellion. Others criticized Meyer's prose and argued the story was lacking in character development. It reached number five on the New York Times bestseller list within a month of its release [9] and eventually reached first place. [10] The novel was named one of Publishers Weekly 's Best Children's Books of 2005. [11]
The film adaptation, released in 2008, was a commercial success, grossing more than $392 million worldwide [12] and making an additional $157 million in North American DVD 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 sequel New 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, entitled Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, with characters Beau and Edythe, in honor of the 10th anniversary of The Twilight Saga. [17] In 2020, Meyer released Midnight Sun , a retelling of the story of Twilight from the perspective of Edward Cullen.
Bella Swan is a seventeen-year-old introverted girl who moved from Phoenix, Arizona, to Forks, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula to live with her father, Charlie Swan, the town's police chief. Her mother, Renée Dwyer, is traveling with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, a minor-league baseball player. Bella is admitted to Forks 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 her school, Bella sits next to Edward in biology class, but he seems to be utterly repulsed by her, much to her bewilderment. He disappears for a few days 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 campout, Bella meets Jacob Black, a local boy from the Quileute tribe. She learns from stories told at a bonfire with his tribe that Edward and his family are "the cold ones" (vampires) who consume only animal blood. Disturbed and riddled 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 in Port 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. 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 nomad vampire 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 her, but before he can kill her, she is rescued by Edward and the other Cullens who kill James. However, James has already bitten Bella. 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 become like him, a vampire, but Edward reiterates he is against this.
Bella's desire to become a vampire increases throughout the series. Edward continues to refuse to turn her, as he thinks being a vampire is being a monster, and does not want Bella to suffer the same fate.
Meyer claims that the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream on June 2, 2003. She dreamed of a human girl and a vampire who loved her but still wanted her blood. Inspired by her dream, Meyer wrote the draft of what is now Chapter 13 of the book. [21] The first drafts were titled Forks instead of Twilight; the publisher requested the title change. At first, Meyer didn't name her two main characters. She chose Edward, influenced by Edward Rochester from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Edward Ferrars from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility . She named the female lead 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. She lettered the chapters instead of numbering them, Chapter 13 being E. The last chapter of the first draft kept getting longer and longer, so she wrote epilogue after epilogue. 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 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] Luck helped. 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 the forbidden fruit from the Book 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] An alternative cover features Kristen Stewart and Robert 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 publish Twilight 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 the New 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 in USA 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 sequel New Moon . [39]
For the tenth anniversary of the book's release, Meyer released Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, alongside the original Twilight. 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 piece Midnight Sun . Midnight Sun is the story of Twilight 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 of School 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 of TeenReads 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 on adjectives and adverbs to bolster dialogue–but this dark romance seeps into the soul." [44] Christopher Middleton of The 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 of The 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 of Suite101.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 the Twilight 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] The New York Times review stated, "The premise of Twilight 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 the Daily Telegraph later listed Twilight 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 the Washington Post , "Meyer's prose seldom rises above the serviceable, and the plotting is leaden". [51] In addition, the book is voted as the worst book of all time on the website Goodreads. [52]
Twilight was on the American Library Association Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2010, for containing a "religious viewpoint" and "violence". [53] The Twilight series was on the same list in 2009 for being "sexually explicit", "unsuited to age group", and having a "religious viewpoint". [54] The Marshall University Libraries pinpoint specific reasons several schools have removed the novel from libraries, [55] citing the hyper-sexual nature of the novel, as well as religious objections to the plot. [55]
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 original tetralogy 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. [56]
Furthermore, on June 5, 2010, Meyer published The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. [57] This book dives into Bree Tanner's experience as a new vampire. [57] Then, on October 6, 2015, she released Life and Death, a retelling of Twilight with reversed gender roles. [57] Most recently, Meyer released Midnight Sun on August 4, 2020, [57] which retells Twilight from Edward Cullen's point of view.
A manga-style Japanese language version of the Twilight saga was released in 13 installments. The books, which were primarily text, featured illustrated pages of art sprinkled throughout the book. [58]
Twilight was adapted as a film by Summit Entertainment. The film was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as protagonists Bella and Edward. The screenplay was adapted by Melissa Rosenberg. The movie was released in theaters in the United States on November 21, 2008, [57] and on DVD on March 21, 2009. [59] The DVD was released in Australia on April 22, 2009. [60]
On July 15, 2009, Entertainment Weekly confirmed rumors that a graphic novel adaptation of Twilight was in development. The book was drawn by Korean artist Young Kim and published by Yen Press. Stephenie Meyer reviewed every panel herself. According to EW, "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. [61] The first part of the graphic novel was released on March 16, 2010. [62]
Stephenie Meyer is an American novelist and film producer known for writing the vampire romance series Twilight, which has sold over 160 million copies, with translations into 37 different languages. She was the bestselling author of 2008 and 2009 in the U.S., having sold over 29 million books in 2008 and 26.5 million in 2009. She received the 2009 Children's Book of the Year award from the British Book Awards for Breaking Dawn, the Twilight series' finale.
New Moon is a 2006 romantic fantasy novel by author Stephenie Meyer. The second installment in the Twilight series, the novel continues the story of Bella Swan and her relationship with vampire Edward Cullen as she enters her senior year of high school. When Edward leaves Bella after his brother attacks her, she is left heartbroken and depressed for months until Jacob Black becomes her best friend. However, her life twists once more when Jacob's nature reveals itself and Edward's sister decides to visit.
Eclipse is the third novel in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. It continues the story of Bella Swan and her vampire love, Edward Cullen. The novel explores Bella's compromise between her love for Edward and her friendship with shape-shifter Jacob Black, along with her dilemma of leaving her mortality behind in a terrorized atmosphere, a result of mysterious vampire attacks in Seattle.
Isabella "Bella" Marie Cullen is the protagonist character of the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer. She is initially an ordinary teenage girl, but during the series, Bella falls in love and marries a vampire Edward Cullen, with whom she has a human-vampire hybrid daughter, Renesmee Cullen. The Twilight series, consisting of the novels Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn, is primarily narrated from Bella's point of view. In The Twilight Saga film series, Bella is portrayed by actress Kristen Stewart.
Edward Cullen is a character in the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer. He is featured in the novels Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, and their corresponding film adaptations, and the novel Midnight Sun—a re-telling of the events of Twilight from Edward's perspective. Edward is a telepathic vampire who, over the course of the series, falls in love with, marries, and fathers a child with Bella Swan, a human teenager who later chooses to become a vampire as well. In the films, Edward is played by actor Robert Pattinson.
Jacob Black is a character in the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer. He is described as an attractive Native American of the Quileute tribe in La Push, near Forks, Washington. In the second book of the series, New Moon, he discovers that he is a therianthrope who can shapeshift into a wolf. For the majority of the series, Jacob competes with Edward Cullen for Bella Swan's love. In The Twilight Saga film series, Jacob is played by Taylor Lautner.
Midnight Sun is a 2020 companion novel to the 2005 book Twilight by author Stephenie Meyer. The work retells the events of Twilight from the perspective of Edward Cullen instead of that of the series' usual narrating character Bella Swan. Meyer stated that Twilight was to be the only book from the series that she planned to rewrite from Edward's perspective. To give them a better feel of Edward's character, Meyer allowed Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the film adaptation of Twilight, and Robert Pattinson, the actor playing Edward, to read some completed chapters of the novel while they shot the film. It was released on August 4, 2020.
Twilight is a series of four fantasy romance novels, two companion novels, and one novella written by American author Stephenie Meyer. Released annually from 2005 through 2008, the four novels chart the later teen years of Bella Swan, a girl who moves to Forks, Washington, from Phoenix, Arizona and falls in love with a 104-year-old vampire named Edward Cullen. The series is told primarily from Bella's point of view, with the epilogue of Eclipse and the second part of Breaking Dawn being told from the viewpoint of character Jacob Black, a werewolf. A novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, which tells the story of a newborn vampire who appeared in Eclipse, was published on 2010. The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, a definitive encyclopedic reference with nearly 100 full color illustrations, was released in bookstores in 2011. In 2015, Meyer published a new novel in honor of the 10th anniversary of the book series, Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, with the genders of the original protagonists switched. Midnight Sun, a retelling of the first book, Twilight, from Edward Cullen's point of view, was published in 2020.
Twilight is a 2008 American romantic fantasy film directed by Catherine Hardwicke from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Stephenie Meyer. It is the first installment in The Twilight Saga film series. The film stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as Bella Swan, a teenage girl, and Edward Cullen, a vampire, and focuses on the development of Bella and Edward's relationship and the subsequent efforts of Edward and his family to keep Bella safe from another coven of vampires.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon is a 2009 American romantic fantasy film directed by Chris Weitz from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the 2006 novel New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. The sequel to Twilight (2008), it is the second installment in The Twilight Saga film series. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.
Breaking Dawn is the 2008 fourth novel in The Twilight Saga by American author Stephenie Meyer. Divided into three parts, the first and third sections are written from Bella Swan's perspective, and the second is written from the perspective of Jacob Black. The novel directly follows the events of the previous novel, Eclipse, as Bella and Edward Cullen get married, leaving behind a heartbroken Jacob. When Bella faces unexpected and life-threatening situations, she willingly risks her human life and possible vampire immortality.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is a 2010 American romantic fantasy film directed by David Slade. It was written by Melissa Rosenberg and was adapted from Stephenie Meyer's 2007 novel Eclipse. The sequel to The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), it is the third installment in The Twilight Saga film series. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively. Bryce Dallas Howard joins the cast as returning character Victoria, who was previously portrayed by Rachelle Lefevre in the first two films.
The Twilight Saga is a series of romance fantasy films based on the book series Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The series has grossed over $3.36 billion worldwide. The first installment, Twilight, was released on November 21, 2008. The second installment, New Moon, followed on November 20, 2009. The third installment, Eclipse, was released on June 30, 2010. The fourth installment, Breaking Dawn – Part 1, was released on November 18, 2011, while the fifth and final installment, Breaking Dawn – Part 2, was released on November 16, 2012.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is a 2011 American romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the 2008 novel Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. The sequel to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), it is the fourth installment in The Twilight Saga film series. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.
Twilight: The Graphic Novel is a two-part comic book miniseries by Young Kim, an adaptation of the first thirteen chapters of the 2005 novel Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Volume 2 was released on October 11, 2011. In October 2012 Volume 1 and Volume 2 were put into one book for a collectors edition that included extras in the back of the book about 5 of the characters (Carlisle Cullen, Edward Cullen, Bella Swan, Jacob Black, and Esme Cullen. On April 23, 2013, volume one of the New Moon: The Graphic Novel came out.
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is a novella in the Twilight series by author Stephenie Meyer. It tells the story of a newborn vampire, Bree Tanner, who is featured in the third book of the series, Eclipse (2007). The book is written from the viewpoint of Bree, as opposed to the rest of the series which is predominantly narrated by character Bella Swan. Meyer let director David Slade, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, and a few of the actors read a draft of the story during production of the 2010 film The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Renesmee is a feminine given name created by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer for a character in Breaking Dawn, the 2008 fourth novel in the Twilight series, who also appeared in the films based on the novels. It is a portmanteau of the names Renee and Esme, which are French in origin. The name, along with others used in the series, came into occasional use as a given name due to the popularity of the books and movies. Alternate spellings of the name are also found.
The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide is a spin-off encyclopedic reference book for the Twilight Saga book series, written by Stephenie Meyer and was released on April 12, 2011. The Guide includes exclusive new material about the world Meyer created in Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, and nearly a hundred full-color illustrations by illustrator Young Kim, who previously illustrated Meyer's #1 New York Times Best SellerTwilight: The Graphic Novel, and several other artists.
Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined is a young adult vampire-romance novel by Stephenie Meyer. The story is a gender-swapped retelling of the first book in the Twilight series, and introduces Beau Swan and Edythe Cullen in place of Bella and Edward. The book was originally published on October 6, 2015 as part of an "oversized flip-book pairing" with Twilight to celebrate the original novel's tenth anniversary. An audiobook (CD) was released by Penguin Random House on the same day.
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 to Twilight (Meyer novel) at Wikiquote