Valentine’s Day is around the corner, so we peeked around campus to learn a little more about love from different scholarly perspectives.

In ancient times the concept of romantic love was an exception that challenged the pre-established order of society and the cosmos, according to Associate Philosophy Professor Vera Jakoby.

“Sure, Greeks, Persians, Hebrews and Egyptians celebrated love in poetry and philosophical essays but it was unknown as a massive phenomenon and popular expression,” Jakoby says.

Only in modern times did the concept of love become a popular expectation and a dominant cultural theme. We are fascinated by the concept of “pure” romantic love like the stories of Guinevere and Lancelot, Juliet and Romeo, Lotte and Werther, etc. These stories promote the myth that there is the one and only soul mate for us but perhaps more importantly, they give us the hope that underneath all our apparent separation there is a unity and celebration of life.

In fact, romance novels are the most popular form of literature on the planet, says English Professor Pam Regis, author of “A Natural History of the Romance Novel.”

“Romance heroines are not the stereotypical subservient ingénues they used to be,” she says. “They’re independent. They have careers, money and sex lives.”

Access Services Librarian Jane Sharpe has romantic books on her mind this time of year.

“What I like to do on Valentine’s Day is for someone to make reservations and take me out, so I’m reviewing the book ‘A Guide to Historic Eateries and their Recipes,’” she says. The cookbook features famous Maryland restaurants and some of their most memorable dishes.

If a bouquet of flowers is more your style for a Valentine’s Day gift, expect to pay more than you normally do, says Assistant Economics Professor Kevin McIntyre. “Valentine’s Day is a great exercise in price discrimination, because florists raise their prices,” he says.

That’s because of higher demand around the holiday. McIntyre learned this firsthand when trying to buy roses more than a decade ago.

“As an impoverished graduate student, I was careful with money, so you notice when you have to fork out $75 for a bunch of roses,” he says.

Despite the prices, McIntyre still plans to buy flowers for his wife this year. A wise move.