Sakshi Mathur is an emerging scholar of English literature whose work thoughtfully explores the intersections of psychoanalysis, feminist theory, and cultural studies. Deeply interested in the emotional and ideological structures that shape popular narratives, she examines how desire, identity, and modern femininity are constructed through literature and contemporary culture. In her debut book, Obsessed with Forever: Psychoanalytic Desire, Immortality, and the Modern Feminine in the Twilight Saga, Sakshi offers a compelling and accessible critical study that moves beyond romance to interrogate our cultural obsession with permanence, love, and immortality. Blending rigorous academic insight with engaging analysis, her work invites readers to rethink familiar stories through a fresh intellectual lens.
The Literature Times: What inspired you to revisit Twilight through the lens of psychoanalysis and feminist theory?
Sakshi Mathur: What fascinated me about Twilight was not simply its romance, but the intensity of emotional attachment it created among readers across generations. I wanted to understand why a story centred on longing, danger, and eternity resonated so deeply within contemporary culture. Psychoanalysis offered a way to explore unconscious desire, fantasy, and emotional dependency, while feminist theory helped me examine how femininity, agency, and identity are negotiated within the narrative. Revisiting Twilight through these frameworks allowed me to move beyond popular assumptions about the saga and reveal it as a cultural text that reflects modern anxieties surrounding love, permanence, and selfhood.
The Literature Times: The idea of “forever” sits at the heart of your book. Why do you think modern audiences remain so captivated by the promise of eternal love?
Sakshi Mathur: Modern life is deeply shaped by uncertainty — relationships are fragile, identities are constantly shifting, and permanence often feels impossible. In that context, the idea of eternal love becomes emotionally comforting because it promises stability in a world defined by impermanence. The fantasy of “forever” reassures audiences that love can transcend time, loss, ageing, and even death itself. At the same time, I believe this fascination also reveals a deeper fear of loneliness and emotional disappearance. Stories like Twilight transform these anxieties into romantic fantasies, allowing readers to imagine a form of love that resists the instability of contemporary existence.
The Literature Times: You draw upon thinkers like Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan in your analysis. How do their ideas help us better understand Bella Swan’s emotional journey?
Sakshi Mathur: Freud and Lacan provide powerful frameworks for understanding desire as something far more complex than simple romantic attraction. Freud’s ideas about longing, repression, and the unconscious reveal how Bella’s emotional attachments are tied to deeper psychological needs, particularly the desire for completion and security. Lacan’s concept of desire as rooted in absence is especially significant because Bella is constantly pursuing something she believes will make her whole. Her attraction to immortality is not only about Edward himself, but about escaping human limitation and uncertainty. Through psychoanalysis, Bella’s journey becomes a reflection of modern emotional desire rather than merely a conventional love story.
The Literature Times: Your book suggests that immortality may represent both comfort and control. Could you elaborate on this paradox?
Sakshi Mathur: Immortality in Twilight appears comforting because it promises permanence, beauty, protection, and escape from death. However, that same permanence can also become restrictive. To exist forever often requires surrendering aspects of human freedom, vulnerability, and change. This creates a paradox where immortality offers emotional security while simultaneously demanding control over identity and desire. Bella’s transformation reflects this tension clearly: becoming immortal fulfills her longing for eternal connection, yet it also places her within rigid structures of power and idealisation. I was interested in exploring how contemporary culture romanticises permanence without always questioning the psychological and ideological consequences that accompany it.
The Literature Times: How do feminist theorists such as Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, and Judith Butler shape your interpretation of Bella’s transformation?
Sakshi Mathur: These theorists helped me examine Bella’s transformation as more than a supernatural event. Kristeva’s work on identity and subjectivity highlights the instability involved in becoming someone new, while Irigaray’s theories on femininity allowed me to question how female desire is represented within patriarchal structures. Judith Butler’s ideas about gender performativity were especially valuable in analysing how Bella’s identity shifts according to cultural expectations surrounding femininity, motherhood, and ideal womanhood. Together, these thinkers helped me approach Bella not as a passive romantic heroine, but as a figure through whom broader cultural tensions about gender, desire, and transformation become visible.
The Literature Times: Obsessed with Forever bridges academic theory and popular culture in a highly accessible way. Was it important for you to make complex ideas approachable for general readers?
Sakshi Mathur: Absolutely. I strongly believe that literary theory should not feel inaccessible or confined only to academic spaces. Popular culture already shapes the way people think about relationships, identity, and society, so analysing these texts through theory can become meaningful for a wide audience. My aim was to create a balance where readers unfamiliar with psychoanalysis or feminist criticism could still engage comfortably with the ideas. I wanted the book to feel intellectually engaging without losing emotional clarity, because theory becomes most powerful when readers can connect it to narratives and experiences they already recognise.
The Literature Times: In your view, what does the Twilight saga reveal about contemporary anxieties surrounding ageing, uncertainty, and identity?
Sakshi Mathur: The saga reflects a cultural discomfort with impermanence. Ageing, emotional instability, and uncertainty are often portrayed as things to overcome rather than natural parts of life. Vampirism in Twilight symbolises the fantasy of escaping these anxieties altogether — remaining eternally beautiful, desired, and emotionally secure. At the same time, the narrative reveals how identity in contemporary culture is increasingly tied to visibility, desirability, and permanence. Bella’s fear of remaining ordinary or temporary mirrors broader societal pressures surrounding self-worth and relevance. In many ways, the saga captures the emotional contradictions of a culture that desires authenticity while simultaneously fearing vulnerability and change.
The Literature Times: As this is your debut book, what challenges or discoveries shaped your writing process?
Sakshi Mathur: One of the greatest challenges was finding a voice that could remain academically rigorous while still emotionally engaging. Because Twilight is often dismissed within literary criticism, I also had to navigate assumptions about the legitimacy of studying popular culture seriously. However, that challenge ultimately became one of the most rewarding aspects of the project. I discovered how deeply cultural narratives influence emotional imagination and social values. Writing the book also taught me the importance of patience and intellectual confidence — trusting that meaningful analysis can emerge from texts that audiences sometimes overlook or underestimate.
The Literature Times: Many readers see Twilight primarily as a romance. What do you hope they will begin to notice after reading your analysis?
Sakshi Mathur: I hope readers begin to notice how the saga reflects deeper emotional and cultural questions beneath its romantic surface. Twilight is not only about love; it is also about fear, longing, identity, transformation, and the human desire to escape limitation. I want readers to recognise how narratives shape our understanding of femininity, relationships, and emotional fulfilment. Even readers who disagree with aspects of my interpretation may begin to see the series as a richer and more complex cultural text than it is often assumed to be.
The Literature Times: If readers take away one central idea from Obsessed with Forever, what would you want it to be?
Sakshi Mathur: I would want readers to reflect on why human beings are so drawn to fantasies of permanence. Whether through love, beauty, immortality, or identity, we are constantly searching for something that feels lasting in an uncertain world. Obsessed with Forever ultimately asks readers to think critically about those desires — not to reject them, but to understand what they reveal about contemporary emotional life. Beneath the fantasy of eternity lies a very human fear of loss, change, and impermanence, and recognising that complexity is central to the book’s message.
