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Thread: Obsession in Literature

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    Obsession in Literature

    Hi guys,

    i am doing a dissertation on obsession within literature, most specifically romantic or sexual obsession and i'm struggling to find novels on the topic.

    Would really appreciate the help! Can anyone think of any?

    I already have The Collector by John Fowles and Enduring Love by Ian McEwan..

    They preferably have to be British authors.....?

    ANY HELP APPRECIATED!!!

  2. #2
    Pièce de Résistance Scheherazade's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by izzi_belle View Post
    The Collector by John Fowles [/U][/B]
    This one was the first one that came to my mind too.

    How about Lolita, Wuthering Heights, The Colour Purple, Engleby or Perfume?
    ~
    "It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
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    Registered User Emil Miller's Avatar
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    Wuthering Heights is probably the best example of obsession and Lolita is also right up there in the obsession stakes but Of Human Bondage must be counted among the most anguished examples of obsession in English literature.
    "L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.

    "Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.

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    What about the murderous obsession of Bradley Headstone for Lizzie in Our Mutual Friend? There's also that of Brian de Bois-Guilbert for Rebecca in Ivanhoe.

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    How about Mr. B and Pamela from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson. British author and the book was published around 1740. The wikipedia article gives a pretty accurate depiction of the measures Mr. B takes in pursuit of Pamela.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela,_or_Virtue_Rewarded

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    Captain Azure Patrick_Bateman's Avatar
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    Lolita, Sorrows of Young Werther
    Latest Blog: An Impassioned and Immediate Response to Dan Hodges, Political Writer, Daily Telegraph.
    http://britishpharaoh.wordpress.com/

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    Registered User kelby_lake's Avatar
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    Lolita and Wuthering Heights are the obvious two. You could hardly do a paper on love/sexual obsession in literature and not mention them.

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    Registered User kiki1982's Avatar
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    Brian de Bois-Guilbert in Ivanhoe would be very good together with Wuthering Heights. He is a Byronic Hero.
    One has to laugh before being happy, because otherwise one risks to die before having laughed.

    "Je crains [...] que l'âme ne se vide à ces passe-temps vains, et que le fin du fin ne soit la fin des fins." (Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Acte III, Scène VII)

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    The Poetic Warrior Dark Muse's Avatar
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    *post ediited* I missed the part at first which said they should be Brittish

    D.H. Lawrence is a good one of Love/Lust obsession:

    Women in Love
    Sons and Lovers
    The Rainbow

    Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham
    Last edited by Dark Muse; 01-19-2011 at 11:48 PM.

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe

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    Vanity Fair - watch the men fall for Becky Sharp like moths falling into a flame...

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    Registered User kelby_lake's Avatar
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    Yep, Sons and Lovers is a good choice.

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    Death in Venice - Thomas Mann, one of the most perfect examples

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    Albert Cohen's 'Belle du Seigneur' (translated, I think, as 'Her Lover').

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    aspiring Arthurianist Wilde woman's Avatar
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    British:
    The Picture of Dorian Gray
    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
    Northanger Abbey

    Not British:
    The Count of Monte Cristo
    The Crucible
    Ecce quam bonum et jocundum, habitares libros in unum!
    ~Robert Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay

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    Not British or really sexual but Don Quixote. We also have Paradise Lost, which is English, wherein Satan is obsessed with being autonomous from God.
    Last edited by Cunninglinguist; 01-19-2011 at 11:43 PM.

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