"An additional vexing wrinkle to the girl issue was the fact that the ones Richard attracted were almost invariably music fans, and that Walter, being Richard’s oldest and biggest fan, was in bitter competition with them. Girls who otherwise might have been friendly to a lover’s best friend, or at least tolerant of him, found it necessary to be frosty to Walter, because serious fans always need to feel uniquely connected to the object of their fandom; they jealously guard those points of connection, however tiny or imaginary, that justify the feeling of uniqueness."
— Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.
