Originally, in the Renaissance, "obsession" was considered a "hostile action of an evil spirit". In the 19^th century it was known as "monomania". Today however it covers a wide range of personal and collective behaviors. In the shape of neurosis, obsession can occupy an entire psyche, but even when it articulates itself through just one concrete emotion, idea, animal, object or person, it can still be very demanding and even change an entire course of human life. We will ask how literature deals with obsessions. Does it offer keys to its understanding, others then those of psychology, sociology, history or theology? Why is it that the pages of literature are crowded with obsessional characters?  Is there something obsessional in literature itself? We will grapple with these questions and many others while performing close reading in texts by Ferrante, Freud, Orpaz, McEwan, Melville, Oster, Chatwin, Wild and Knaz.