Product Description

Stalking is very real and very pervasive. In recent years, more and more people have been harassed by strangers or persecuted by ex-lovers. Almost any celebrity you care to mention has been stalked. Numerous films and novels revolve around the figure of the stalker. But, though seemingly everywhere, it is only since the 1990s that the term 'stalking' has begun to be widely used. Are we dealing with something new? Have ways of relating to other people changed over recent decades, becoming more intense or even perverse? Or have we simply begun to describe established forms of social interaction in a new way? "Stalking Culture" is the first serious book to reveal the cultural dimension of this obsessive pursuit and examines stalking in the context of contemporary media-saturated culture. It also hows that 'stalking' has been part of the cultural consciousness (and unconscious) for almost 200 years. The discussion ranges widely from novels of previous historical periods, such as Richardson's "Clarissa" and Dickens's "Our Mutual Friend", to classic Hollywood cinema, such as "Play Misty For Me" and "Taxi Driver", to more recent stalking films and novels, "Fatal Attraction", "One Hour Photo", and "Enduring Love", among others. It also considers famous cases of celebrity stalking, such as Jodie Foster, John Lennon, Monica Seles and Jill Dando and related issues, such as the internet and TV shows. By examining the depiction of stalking in books, films and the news, and drawing on forensic psychology, psychoanalysis and cultural theory, this book reveals how fears and desires are expressed in contemporary culture. "Stalking Culture" offers a unique analysis and history for anyone who wants to make sense of this contemporary phenomenon.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #604023 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
"Stalking, as a criminal offence and as an obsessive psychological state, has only recently been identified but it has a long and vivid history in literature and film from the schoolteacher Bradley Headstone in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend to Alex Forrest, the bunny boiler in Fatal Attraction. A fascinating mix of psychology, film studies, literature and cultural theory."--Times (London)

About the Author
Bran Nicol is Senior Lecturer in English Literature in the School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies at the University of Portsmouth, and the author of Iris Murdoch: The Retrospective Fiction (1999) and Postmodernism and the Contemporary Novel (2002).