Unrequited Love: On Stalking and Being Stalked - A Tale of Obsessive Passion

This is a strange little book about the modern malady that is stalking. As you would expect of an academic, Dart's approach is analytical, with a strong literary slant (chapters concerned with Dante and Stendhal, for instance). In fact, given that he is a scholar of William Hazlitt, there's an unsettling parallel with Hazlitt's Liber Amoris. The scholarly parts of the book are well written, but when it comes to writing about himself Dart is a bit arch and starchy, as if he feels uncomfortable in his own skin. Furthermore, it's not entirely clear - as another reviewer has already observed - that Dart was in fact stalked. If we review the way he behaved towards the woman whom he thinks of as his stalker, it looks as if he has to take his share of the blame. In general, the way he talks about his emotions and his social life suggests he is distinctly self-satisfied, and his attempts at self-critique don't always ring true. In other words, this is an interesting, provoking book on an important subject, but it feels in the end inadequate, partly because Dart's approach to the subject is self-consciously intellectual, partly because he tends to bristle with indignation, and partly because the entire premiss of the book seems artificial - there's no obsessive passion here, and not a lot of stalking or being stalking for that matter. Worth reading (another enjoyable and inexpensive title from the impressive Short Books imprint), but a book which will probably arouse scepticism more than anything else.

Implausible and defensive (13/16 people found this helpful)

This book has an interesting premise - a London University lecturer gets stalked by an obsessive student, and then goes to the library to read up on the history of stalking and decides to write a book about it. The only problem is, Dart did not get stalked. From what he writes, although it's difficult to know exactly, since he leaves out most of the details that would make him look bad, he led her on (he invited her to spend the weekend at his flat, for God's sake: remember - she'sa student), and then he dumped her. She got upset, demanded an explanation, which he seemed selfishly unwilling to give her, and then he goes into a defensive sulk that he's been mistreated by her! Come off it, James Hewitt: you acted despicably. If you can't stand the heat . . .

When love turns on you, it's evol. (4/16 people found this helpful)

If you've ever had your love rebuffed, and let's face it, you probably have, then read this. On the one hand it's an absorbing true story about a bloke who starts getting too many text messages/emails/phone calls/letters from a girl he hardly knows, and on the other, it's a great essay about the history of unrequited love; from an honourable medieval notion of it, to a modern metropolitan perspective, where it's tempting to regard it as something a bit pathetic or even psychotic. Yesterday's unrequited lover, is today's "bunny boiler".
Gregory Dart takes us through a series of real, anecdotal, and literary examples (some thought-provoking, some funny) of obsessional love, all wrapped up with his own candid account of being on the receiving end, and the effect it had on him. What makes it really refreshing though is that he never chooses to condemn this kind of dead-end desire, but instead seeks to show us how we might make sense of it. Indeed, as the book goes on, he reveals how he too is soon to discover first hand how it feels when love goes unrequited.

Unrequited Love: On Stalking and Being Stalked - A Tale of Obsessive Passion

Gregory Dart

Reader Reviews:

Unsettling (4/4 people found this helpful)

Implausible and defensive (13/16 people found this helpful)

When love turns on you, it's evol. (4/16 people found this helpful)

Similar Products

Categories