Observing the Erotic Imagination

An investigation of the origins of human sexual excitement; Stoller uses as source material pornography, daydreams and rituals that are commonly regarded as perverted. He suggests that similar elements are present in the erotic fantasies of both perverse and non-perverse people.

---

"Stoller is not just a scientist but a lover of words and language. In this book, his text is as playful, charming, and serious as his topic.  The mix, a scientific and aesthetic exploration of the erotic imagination, is almost as irresistible as one's own erotic daydreams. Observing the Erotic Imagination is for all professional and private students of the erotic."—Dr. Ethel Person

 

"This book is a delight....He offers a model clinical illustration, brilliant and full of presence.  Indeed, Stoller's entire book is a model of clear, elegant conversational prose."—Jerome B. Katz, M.D., Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic

 

"Stoller presents new thoughts on his most provocative theory of the relationship between erotic excitement and fantasy of revenge and hostility."—Anke A. Ehrhardt, Ph.D. and Evan J. Elkin, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent

 

"Stoller's account is comprehensive and levelheaded."—Psychological Reports