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April 2022 Vol. 59 No. 8

This short text by Falkoff (New York Univ.) lives up to its subtitle by offering a synoptic view of how "stuff" can become an object of aesthetic interest. Examining the psychological literature along with literary texts, Falkoff shows how the collection, or amassing, of objects having little or no usefulness makes its appearance in poetry (e.g., Baudelaire), detective stories, documentary film, and installation art. She reveals the possible meanings of the hoard, as figured in such spaces as flea markets, crime scenes, and libraries. These meanings turn on themes of waste, fetishism, temporality, storytelling, and the question of value. One may wish the book were longer and more expansive in its purview, taking into account the historical origins of hoarding, which extend at least back to the hoards of the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of Europe, and encompassing other premodern hoards such as those of the medieval collector Jean de France and those figured in the poetry of Dante, whose Canto VII of Inferno describes the fourth circle of Hell as a place specifically reserved for hoarders and wasters. This book's valuable perspective on the issue of hoarding will appeal to those working in cultural studies, history, and modern literature, in addition to students and professionals in psychology.

--M. Uebel, University of Texas

Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.