Obsession : a history / Lennard J. Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Lennard J., 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Obsessive-compulsive disorder--History.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Compulsive behavior--History.

Compulsive behavior.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

We live in an age of obsession. Not only are we hopelessly devoted to our work, strangely addicted to our favorite television shows, and desperately impassioned about our cars, we admire obsession in others: we demand that lovers be infatuated with one another in films, we respond to the passion of single-minded musicians, we cheer on driven athletes. To be obsessive is to be American; to be obsessive is to be modern.But obsession is not only a phenomenon of modern existence: it is a medical category-both a pathology and a goal. Behind this paradox lies a fascinating history, which Lennard J.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction. Obsession in Our Time

1. Origins of Obsession

2. The Emergence of Obsession

3. Specialization as Monomania

4. Never Done: Compulsive Writing, Graphomania, Bibliomania

5. Freud and Obsession as the Gateway to Psychoanalysis

6. Obsessive Sex and Love

7. Obsession and Visual Art

8. OCD: Now and Forever

9. Conclusion: So What? So What? So What? So What? and Other Obsessive Thoughts

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-276) and index.

ISBN:

9786612070334

9781282070332

1282070339

9780226137797

0226137791

OCLC:

371102590