On Obsession

Part of a series that pairs leading Australian thinkers and cultural figures with important themes in life, this essay contemplates obsession.

‘When we are young adults, not only are we looking for signposts but we are afraid of ourselves, frightened of where our tendencies may lead. Are we all just a tiny bit mad, and were my obsessions, like my grandfather’s, always going to take on a mild and manageable aspect?’

In On Obsession, Malcolm Knox contemplates love, Proust, soulmates in fiction, palindromic numbers and bloodlines, among other fixations, and wonders if the obsessive quest marks a retreat from life.