What do you think?
Rate this book
Collecting: An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives
In a book that the New York Times called “engaging...dramatic,” Werner Muensterberger plumbs the psychology behind the act of collecting, profiling individual collectors and their habits and looking at the cultural and historical patterns of collecting.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
9 people are currently reading
366 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 8, 2021
Another out of control "collector"....
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/07/106211...
=========
The book did not have as much about small time collectors as I expected. I was anticipating more on the psychology of these folks.
When I was in middle school, my younger brother and I were ruthless collectors of baseball cards. (If I had any foresight, I would have kept my Marvel and DC comics instead). Inevitably, those cards ended up in the attic, and when I moved a few years ago, I donated them to a hobby shop.
My late mother-in-law collected faux antiques, a taste she passed on to her youngest daughter. (It was only after the daughter’s daughter got engaged, and her fiancée pronounced it a bunch of junk, that the youngest daughter's eyes were opened. Failure to sell most of it at garage sales reinforced this assessment)
My mother collected faux African art (the kind tourists might buy at the Nairobi airport) and, later, Hummel figures. And let's not forget Spanish Lladró porcelain figurines, and stuff from the Franklin Mint, that others might display and treasure.
But as the bio of the author linked below indicates, he moved in elite circles and he tends to focus on high-end collections by the likes of the Rockefeller family, Getty, and historical figures such as Balzac, as well as the notorious Sir Thomas Phillips, who wanted to own a copy of every book in the world.
https://www.artnews.com/art-in-americ...
========
From "Swann's Way" by Proust....
“If you were determined to assign Swann a social coefficient that was his alone, among the other sons of stockbrokers in a position equal to that of his parents, this coefficient would have been a little lower for him because, very simple in his manner and with a long standing craze for “antiques” and painting, he now lived and amassed his collections in an old town house which my grandmother dreamed of visiting, but which was situated on the quai d’Orleans, a part of town where my great-aunt felt it was ignominious to live.
“But are you a connoisseur? I ask you for your own ask, because you’re likely to let the dealers unload some awful daubs on you,” my great-aunt would say to him; in fact she did not assume that he had any competence and even from an intellectual point of view had no great opinion of a man who in conversation avoided serious subjects and showed a most prosaic preciseness only when he gave us cooking recipes, entering into the smallest details.”
And even Swann's lover, Odette, filled her house with gauche Chinese knick-knacks and other faux "Asian art."
============
Another example....
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
=============
Books are not exempt. From The Baffler...
....the fetishization of the book as an object. This kind of book-fervor is a few years old now, but as the recent backlash to Marie Kondo’s dry suggestion that most people only need thirty books indicates, it’s far from gone. Books now exist as book-objects; they are written by writers, loved by “book lovers,” made into lists, declared important. As objects they can be staged, as purveyors of relatability they can be used. But there’s a pervasive sense that they aren’t really meant to be read, critically evaluated, hated, or loved. Opinions are formed about them in advance; “the conversation” around them progresses in expected lines.
==
An ultimate collecting story......fascinating.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021...
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/07/106211...
=========
The book did not have as much about small time collectors as I expected. I was anticipating more on the psychology of these folks.
When I was in middle school, my younger brother and I were ruthless collectors of baseball cards. (If I had any foresight, I would have kept my Marvel and DC comics instead). Inevitably, those cards ended up in the attic, and when I moved a few years ago, I donated them to a hobby shop.
My late mother-in-law collected faux antiques, a taste she passed on to her youngest daughter. (It was only after the daughter’s daughter got engaged, and her fiancée pronounced it a bunch of junk, that the youngest daughter's eyes were opened. Failure to sell most of it at garage sales reinforced this assessment)
My mother collected faux African art (the kind tourists might buy at the Nairobi airport) and, later, Hummel figures. And let's not forget Spanish Lladró porcelain figurines, and stuff from the Franklin Mint, that others might display and treasure.
But as the bio of the author linked below indicates, he moved in elite circles and he tends to focus on high-end collections by the likes of the Rockefeller family, Getty, and historical figures such as Balzac, as well as the notorious Sir Thomas Phillips, who wanted to own a copy of every book in the world.
https://www.artnews.com/art-in-americ...
========
From "Swann's Way" by Proust....
“If you were determined to assign Swann a social coefficient that was his alone, among the other sons of stockbrokers in a position equal to that of his parents, this coefficient would have been a little lower for him because, very simple in his manner and with a long standing craze for “antiques” and painting, he now lived and amassed his collections in an old town house which my grandmother dreamed of visiting, but which was situated on the quai d’Orleans, a part of town where my great-aunt felt it was ignominious to live.
“But are you a connoisseur? I ask you for your own ask, because you’re likely to let the dealers unload some awful daubs on you,” my great-aunt would say to him; in fact she did not assume that he had any competence and even from an intellectual point of view had no great opinion of a man who in conversation avoided serious subjects and showed a most prosaic preciseness only when he gave us cooking recipes, entering into the smallest details.”
And even Swann's lover, Odette, filled her house with gauche Chinese knick-knacks and other faux "Asian art."
============
Another example....
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
=============
Books are not exempt. From The Baffler...
....the fetishization of the book as an object. This kind of book-fervor is a few years old now, but as the recent backlash to Marie Kondo’s dry suggestion that most people only need thirty books indicates, it’s far from gone. Books now exist as book-objects; they are written by writers, loved by “book lovers,” made into lists, declared important. As objects they can be staged, as purveyors of relatability they can be used. But there’s a pervasive sense that they aren’t really meant to be read, critically evaluated, hated, or loved. Opinions are formed about them in advance; “the conversation” around them progresses in expected lines.
==
An ultimate collecting story......fascinating.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021...
April 30, 2010
The fact that I don't run up against more books that are so explicitly entrenched in a singular disciplinary stance/attitude is probably more a reflection of the type of work I do than the actual lack of such books (even in the academic market). That said, it is always a little astounding to read something that, point blank, suggests it is interested in pursuing a narrative/topic in order to identify THE CAUSAL factor in its existence. This was such a book. Muensterberger (sounds like a cheese, right?) sets out to explore collection (of all types of objects) as the direct result of psychoanalytic factors. Specifically, he identifies an early childhood loss of an important object or human relationship that relates in the subject's unhealthy attitude toward material objects. The objects are compensations. That's it. And Muensterberger is very thorough in his application of this analysis. He charts the history of collecting across cultures and times, and notes that while collectible objects might shift according to tastes and places, the singular driving force (compensation for lack) is consistent throughout. Obviously, this makes for a rather reductionist argument, but it's one that is occasionally enviable to this cultural relativist. If only I could believe in a singular cause (to basically anything in life), things would at least seem simpler.
January 26, 2023
This book is very interesting, at some points it becomes fascinating, as when it describes the collecting mania of Thomas Phillips and Honoré de Balzac. It could be better conceptually, but it is still considered one of the best of its kind. Being a passionate collector of books, pictures, coins, stamps, etc. myself, it is very challenging to see what the pseudo-scientists of psychoanalysis think lies behind this "pathos" (passion). Very useful work, read both for fun and for scholarly reasons.
February 5, 2017
Very interesting examination of why people collect, but oddly enough I felt there was something missing - something that would make me (as a bibliophile and collector) think, "Aha! That's why I do it." But that lightbulb never went off. It may be a deeper dig is called for.
February 1, 2021
I don't remember how it got onto my reading list. I thought this would be interesting, but I was wrong. It was to much like a textbook and I found myself scanning much more than I was reading. There were some interesting parts but few and far between. I did not get through the entire book.
July 19, 2023
To me, this book read like a PhD project and lacked the arresting factor that keeps one coming back. I struggled in my commitment to finish it, which may say more about me than the author. If you read the last paragraph, you will get the entire message the rest of the book gives evidence for.
January 5, 2019
Stiff and wordy, overly researched, just like a textbook.
I wish I could just CTRL+F a book to find "hoarders."
I wish I could just CTRL+F a book to find "hoarders."
Want to read
March 19, 2009Let's see Fiesta and other Homer Laughlin dinnerware, flatware, linen calendars, floaty pens, Christmas tree pins, flamingos, penguins, trolls, Nancy Drew books, bookmarks, table linens, purses, The Archies jelly jar glasses, glass coffee servers, Obama memorablia, ugly Santa Claus dolls, Little Golden Book Christmas books, paint by numbers paintings of dogs, etc., etc., etc......I think I NEED to read this book! I could have been a case study!
March 19, 2009
Some fascinating case studies despite the (generally) facile psychoanalytic explication.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews