Obsessive Love in John Fowles’ The Collector (1963) and Caroline Kepnes’ You (2014): A Comparative Study
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Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University OF Tizi-Ouzou
Abstract
The present dissertation is a psychoanalytical study in which we have made a parallelism
between two literary works’; the novel of the English writer John Fowles The Collector
(1963) and You (2014) written by the American novelist Caroline Kepnes. The comparison is
concerned with showing the protagonists’ psychological state focusing on the theme of
obsessive love. To achieve our goal, we have relied on Susan Forward and Graig Buck’s
theory entitled Obsessive Love: When It Hurts Too Much to Let Go (2002). We have shown
how both novelists tackle the issue of obsessive love in their works. Thus, in our dissertation,
we have revealed the main characteristics of obsessive love cited in the previous theory.
Furthermore, we have exposed the reaction of the targets Miranda and Beck towards the
excessive behavior of their obsessors as well as the difficulties they may face to prove their
decision of breaking up. We have found that the two targets of the novels react in the same
way using nearly the same methods including being assertive either in their statements and
actions or using the double messages which consist of false promises and statements.
Description
69p. ; 30cm.+(cd)
Keywords
breaking up, excessive behavior, Obsessive love, obsessors, reaction, target.
Citation
Literature and Interdisciplinary Approaches