I’m looking for examples of literature (i.e., recognized, classic literature) written in a language other than English in which the story centrally involves a romance between two of the characters.
Thanks.
-FrL-
Tristan and Iseult has been in several languages.
Princesse de Cleves–French. It’s not exactly just about a romance, but the central story is about a romance/relationship.
And Colette’s series on Claudine (French again) involve romances.
How about Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”? Written in Russian, definitely a classic (on many top 10 of all time lists) and involves a romance.
Edit: Also, it’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure the Arthur tales from Chretien de Trois would involve romance.
I came in to mention Anna Karenina but I’ll add instead another great Russian novel: “Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov, one of my favorite novels.
Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert), if you’re interested in love gone wrong.
Or the works of Victor Hugo is you’re looking for more mainstream French Romanticism, especially the unrequired love of Eponine in Les Miserables and the unrequited love of Quasimodo for Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Thanks for the suggestions so far.
How do I say this? Like this:
Got any shorter ones? 
-FrL-
Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilych” is a short story that’s not exactly about a love affair, but does involve Ivan’s feelings (or lack thereof) for his wife and child. It’s also a very good story, and not all that difficult to read. Some of the medicine is dated (floating kidney) but I always enjoyed it.
/English major
Kleist’s “Marquise of O” is a romance, in a date-rape kinda way, and very short.
The first one I thought of was Doctor Zhivago.
Cyrano de Bergerac, probably the most romantic play ever. There are actually two romances: Christian and Roxanne and Cyrano and Roxanne.
If you like theatre, La Celestina is completely centered upon the romance between two lovers, although the title character is their go-between. Celestina was her given name; the success of this play was so great that it became the name for a go-between.
Most of Lope de Vega’s comedies have a central romance. La Dama Boba is probably the most-represented one.
While El Quijote isn’t much of a romance, Don Alonso’s obsession with Dulcinea is central to the story (long though). Many of Cervantes’ short stories involve some lovers’ trouble.
You said “classic”, right? That’s all XVIth century, pretty classic 
To go more classic in Spanish, we get into romances and legends.
Are there any examples of literature in which the story doesn’t involve a romance between two of the characters?
Camus’ The Stranger
Koestler’s Darkenss At Noon
Tolstoy’s The Death Of Ivan Ilyich
Goethe’s Faust
Happy little works, all of them. (Not.)
Not short by any means, but there are several romantic relationships in The Tale of Genji.
Shakespeare adapted Romeo and Juliet from a poem in English, which purportedly is a translation from an Italian poem by Bondello.
There are plenty of hawt! romances (and other liaisons less emotional than carnal) in Bocaccio’s Decameron (long as a whole, but it’s really a collection of shorter stories, like The Canterbury Tales.)
Dante’s Vita Nuova (not really a story) is mainly about his unrequited love for Beatrice Portinari, who also figures as his guide in the Paradiso.
Really Classical classical literature – long predating the very existence of England or English – offers a lot of romantic tales, e.g., “Pyramus and Thisbe”. The Odyssey is not really about Odysseus’ devotion to Penelope but she does serve as the MacGuffin, and he does get some action along the way. (And let’s not get started on Achilles and Patroclus. 
)
There are several romances in the Mabinogion (British but not English – it was written in Welsh).
A couple of Kalidasa’s plays are about romantic relationships.
Chekhov’s The Lady with the Pet Dog is one of my favorites. The final paragraph always kills me.
Gaston Leroux’s “Le Fantom de l’Opera”
Don Quijote de la Mancha
The Red and the Black is medium length and principally about romance.
For shorter novels, Balzac’s works tended to not be too long. Of course he was also a rather impressive cynic, so I’m not sure if any of his romances would be particularly romantic.