DAMAGE: chapters 1-14

The character in this book lived his life obeying by "the rules" all his life in which he had been rewarded for in doing so. He became a success doctor, married a beautiful woman, and watched his two children live healthy to adulthood. But by living this life he had a lot of questions that went unasked for many years. Since he tired to be a good husband, a good father and a good son, he wonders if he chose to live his childhood a different way. He grew up knowning that will is the solution to all life's problems. That people search for love in the place of their birth or search for the imprint of another. And that the basic instinct of mankind is greed.

Lolita: Vladimir Nabokov

Humbert talks about how there are two kinds of visual memory. One when you skillfully recreate an image in the laboratory of your mind, with your eyes open, and the other when you instantly evoke, with your closed. Humbert states that he does not have a picture of Annabel that was memorable as he does of Lolita. Humbert also discusses about a nymphet. This a particular type of girl that he is drawn to and she is between the agesvod nine and fourteen. He describes this type of love by making references to historical and cultural events of romance and marriages between adolocent girls and older men. Thus the older guy is under the nymphet's spell. In order for the magic to work there must be a gap of sereval years between the underage girl and the older men, generally ten years apart.

Tennov:Love and Limerence

This passage by Tennov defines limerence as a magical or supernatural force. And it could also be described as "love at first sight." Limerence is mental activity, an interpretation of events. "The moment" you recognize your limerent object, the object of your passionate desire, the experience is utterly unlike anything else you felt before. Limerence is not just sexual attraction because sex is adequate to satisfy the limerent need. It is a desire for more than sex. "Limerence may begin as a barely perceptible feeling of increased interest in a particular person but one which if nurtured by appropriate conditions can grow to enormous intensity." (Pg. 23) The limerent object could have some sort of magic to change your lifestyle. Limerence at 100 percent may be ecstasy or it may change positive to negative at any level of intensity.

Chapter 6: obsessive sex and love.

Does obsession and sex really link to one another? Well in this short reading that throughout history, at points it was consider to have sex everyday "normal" by society while on the other hand scientist define sex as if you had a certain disease. Society noted that sex is not really an obsession but an attraction to a single person. Now a person who was sexually addictive, stalking, or doing acts of sexual homicide was mad passion. Mad passion leads to irresponsibility, addiction, even murders and madness. But furthermore, there is a obsession to frequency that you have sex. Such as the number of partners, number of orgasms within a number of hours or days or frequency of masturbation. If you perform such activites you are obsessed because these activities takes up hours or days of psychic and physical time. In the past from ancients to the mid- eighteenth century sex was known as erotomania, raving love. A somatic disease of inflamed and congested genitals leading to disorder fantasy. Then the identity of sex was known as nymphomaniacs, men's genitals were abnormal.

"The Possession" by Ernaux

This book, when you first read it, gives you a clear understanding of what the woman possess, a guy who she had loved. In the second paragraph the woman said "The first thing i did after waking up was grab his penis," this gesture, in other words, shows what she possess and shows territory she claims that no other woman have. But the woman has broken off her relationship with her lover. After doing this she soon became preoccupied and possessed by the thought of the woman who has taken her place. Not being able obtain information from the man, ex-lover, she becomes obsessed with uncovering the identity of his new lover.

Chapter 3: specialization as monomania

This chapter explains in depth how scientists are labeled monomanics. Scientist today, compared to one's in the past, are just as obsessive with their work. But at the same time they may not want to think about their work all the time. Instead, since thinking on a single thing could produce monomania, that notion of that obsession may led to madness. Madness was viewed as "normal" because obsessive behaviors that could lead to madness could at the same time lead to science.

Cbapter 2: The Emergence of Obsession

After reading this chapter, i learned that monomania was the first diagnosis specifically defining what we call today obsession. Monomania was defined as a preoccupation with single idea, passion, or train of thought that was obvious and knkwable while at the same time irresistible. Monomaniacs are aware of the wrongness or inappropriateness of some aspect of their behavior, but they are unable to stop a particular train of thought or action. Compared to OCD, people with obsessions realize that what they are doing is not normal, but they cannot seem to control themselves. This type of disease was connected to people who were civilized. "This is a disease of people with large, active brains." (Pg. 72) Monomania was thus seen as a lifestyle. But this disease greatly confused the mind, body, and soul.