The author examines the psychological forces that contribute to sexual excitement in men and women. He looks at sexual aberrations to learn what they can tell us about "normal" sexual development and finds that in perversion hostility is directed, either in reality or fantasy, toward one's sex object. Through case studies and other provocative examples, Dr. Stoller shows how childhood frustrations and conflicts are hidden within fantasies to generate sexual excitement. Whether in the form of pornography, daydreams, or ritualized sex practices, childhood traumas are transformed into triumphs thereby making the victim the victor. [from the back cover]

"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