For instance, obsessing over Lawrence means learning about the progress of WWI, the Georgian poets, rape trauma, Sinn Fein, Crusaders, medieval French literature, Arabic, Middle Eastern history, Mesopotamian archaeology, post-traumatic stress disorder, and hey, I've even been to the airfield in Karachi where he was stationed in miserable exile.
You have put this very well. Obsessions are a sort of lens through which we view the world; they enable us to see so much more than simply the obsession, and in such a different way. Through my current quasi-historical obsession I've learned about things like the Jewish community in Britain, boarding schools, views of homosexuality in the 50s and 60s, musicals, bullfighting, the music industry, bipolar disorder, the effects of amphetamines and barbiturates, parts of London I'd never visited before, and I'm sure a lot more besides.
An interesting challenge would be to invite people to post the side benefits of their obsessions and ask others to guess the main subject... :)
no subject
You have put this very well. Obsessions are a sort of lens through which we view the world; they enable us to see so much more than simply the obsession, and in such a different way. Through my current quasi-historical obsession I've learned about things like the Jewish community in Britain, boarding schools, views of homosexuality in the 50s and 60s, musicals, bullfighting, the music industry, bipolar disorder, the effects of amphetamines and barbiturates, parts of London I'd never visited before, and I'm sure a lot more besides.
An interesting challenge would be to invite people to post the side benefits of their obsessions and ask others to guess the main subject... :)