When did we decide that love isn't serious?

One of the biggest criticisms hurled against books for girls/women is that "they're just about romance". As if romance (and by extension, love) is just a frothy, insubstantial, silly thing that isn't worthy of discussion or exploration.

Love affects every single person on the planet, more personally and profoundly than war or catching big whales or dead girls in country towns. And it doesn't just happen to girls. Boys fall in love too. We all do. It's part of our evolutionary reason for...