MonomaniaSarah Atwood

Kearsten Collins

About monomania    

Type of interpretation of literature that has only one idea or types of ideas

• Emotional monomania- Writing based on one emotion or several emotions that are all similar

•  Intellectual monomania- Writing that is related to only one kind of delirious idea or ideas

Characteristics

• Often attached to subcultures that appear esoteric

• Differences between monomania and passion can be very subtle and difficult to recognize

Timeline

• 1880- 1 of 7 recognized categories of mental illness • 1850s- Faded as diagnostic category in psychiatry

 • Does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders today •  Number of disorders once classified under monomania are now

types of impulse control, conduct, or delusional disorders

Types of Monomania

1. De Clerambault's Syndrome: Patient is in the state of mind that a particular male or female loves him/her

2. Idee Fixe: One idea is completely overvalued and takes over a patient's life

3.  Kleptomania: Irresistible urge to steal any and all items seen by this patient

4. Paranoia: Patient is constantly fearing persecution5. Pyromania: Impulse to start fires constantly

Monomania Applied to Wuthering Heights

 • Heathcliff is described as a monomaniac

 •  Graeme Tytler interlocks Monomania with Wuthering Heights

 • Heathcliff obsesses over

           -Getting revenge on Hindley           -Reuniting with Cathy in the afterlife

Other Examples of Monomania in Literature• Crime and Punishment• Moby-Dick• Edgar Allan Poe's writing

        -Bernice        -The Black Cat        -The Fall of the House of Usher        - The Masque of the Red Death        -The Oval Portrait        -The Tell- Tale Heart

Citations

 • Monomania. N.p., 7 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.

     http://www.tititudorancea.org/z/monomania.htm. •  "Monomania." Wikipedia. N.p., 14 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Nov.

2011.      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomania.

•  "Psychological Interpretations of Wuthering Heights." Emily Bronte. N.p., 13      Oct. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/      melani/novel_19c/wuthering/psych.html>.