As a teenager, Windsor began a lifelong infatuation with Pushkin because "his existence proved . . . in an unassailable way, the fact of the black intellectual."

In fact, Syrians are among the most friendly and hospitable people in the world, and most visitors to their country end up developing a lifelong infatuation with its gentle charms.

"The Rhythm of the Saints" is only the latest expression of Mr. Simon's lifelong infatuation with exotic musical sounds.

Sage is revealed to have a lifelong infatuation with fellow journalist Lois Lane, which he does not divulge to her.

Because it is based so faithfully on Potter's own script, its weaknesses point to the often unhappy collision of film and TV in his career, and to his lifelong infatuation with Hollywood.

His fascination with the wonder of music was almost as great as his lifelong infatuation with science.

"I've had a lifelong infatuation with things that don't come directly out of the Western Judeo-Christian tradition," Mr. Glass said.

But modernist rationalism in his work was balanced by a romantic streak that expressed itself in this lifelong infatuation with the sea.

Yet, Holman thirsted for more education, and developed his lifelong infatuation with Medieval and Renaissance church music through studies at the Catholic University of America, Washington DC.

But Flanagan, who survived until age 42, also had a lifelong infatuation with bondage, ritualized torture and humiliation that went far beyond the challenge of pain management.