The need to see Star Wars 21 times

'In the summer of 1977, Jonathan Lethem saw the movie Star Wars 21 times. Not that many times, really--if anything, in the annals of Star Wars geekdom, it qualifies as merely a good start--but Mr. Lethem was proud of his record, if only because of the passing humanoid shape which the number 21 bestowed on him: “stopping at 20 seemed too mechanically round. Adding one more felt plausibly arbitrary, more realistic.” Sometimes he watched Star Wars back-to-back on the same day, sometimes returning from a trip to the bathroom to experience the peculiar thrill of watching Star Wars from a different seat. Then there was the time he took his mother--then dying of cancer--to see the film and, after it was over and she went home, stayed on for one more helping: "I was saying, in effect: Come and see my future, post-mom self. Enact with me your parting from it. Hereís the world of cinema and stories and obsessive identification Iím using to survive your going--now go." This heartbreaking essay--easily the most moving piece of prose ever written on the subject of Star Wars --appears in a new collection of Mr. Lethemís essays, which bed down into a surprisingly cohesive book about cultural obsession, about what itís like to identify with a cultural artifact so strongly that youíre willing to lose friends and alienate your family in the process. Read review here.