![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In his thoughtful introduction, the ethnopsychoanalyst Mario Erdheim describes the historical and biographical circumstances under which 'Totem and Taboo' was written. Especially in the fourth essay, Freud unfolds a bold speculative theory about the beginnings of culture by tracing the origin of the feeling of guilt and the incest taboo to traumatic events in the prehistoric family: the murder committed by the horde of brothers against the original father. Freuds account of the centrality of loss in culture has been seen as seminal for his later work, Civilization and its Discontents. The book was one of the author's favourite texts throughout his life and was described by Thomas Mann as a "masterpiece akin to and belonging to all great examples of German essay writing". Building on the second essay of Totem and Taboo, Freud argued that such an attitude left civilians in particular unprepared for the stark horror of industrial-scale death in the Great War. Show more Totem and Taboo' (1912/13) is Freud's first major work on cultural theory, in which he analogizes psychopathological and ethnological categories and elaborates 'Some Conformities in the Soul Life of Savages and Neurotics'. ![]() Whatever your feelings about psychoanalysis, Freuds theories have influenced every facet of modern life, from film and literature to medicine and art. Family, society, religion - theyre all put on the couch here. Totem and Taboo' (1912/13) is Freud's first major work on cultural theory, in which he analogizes psychopathological and ethnological categories and elaborates 'Some Conformities in the Soul Life of Savages. Thorough and thought-provoking, Totem and Taboo remains the fullest exploration of Freuds most famous themes. ![]()
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