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The populist and somewhat sensational cover of this book belies the seriousness of its intent. The questions the author asks in his prologue concern the relationship between sex, death and power, the rules society or societies develop to ensure the division of power and desire and, finally, symbol formation and the resulting forms of expression: a high brief indeed. His referential spectrum is no less ambitious and touches on anthropology, philosophy, structuralism and modern culture including children's literature, pop and the cinema.
This makes the book an exciting and thought-provoking read but it is also a short book and therefore does not have space enough to answer all the questions it poses or satisfactorily develop the arguments it evokes. Thus it remains, some of the time at least, journalistic and superficial. This is matched by the style which at its best is witty and debunking, but at its worst irritatingly facile, with direct questions to the reader taking the place of articulated links between chapters. This very criticism is, however, unfair for, I believe, the aim of the book is to look at the problems of our society, a society in transition, confused and rudderless, from a Freudian/Lacanian point of view and to make this understanding accessible to a wide audience. In this he has, in my view, succeeded and some of the chapters are illuminating.
The book is divided into three essays: ‘The Impossible Couple’, in which the author looks at the vicissitudes of men/women relationships, ‘Fathers in Flight’ with its self-explanatory title, and, finally, ‘The Drive’ where the underlying theme of the book, the tension between drive and desire, is explored more fully.
In ‘The Impossible Couple’ Verhaeghe introduces the reader gently to the world of the psyche and begins by sketching the picture of a society which, having abandoned the Western patriarchal mode, is now confused about the role and place sexuality and sexual activity should occupy; he looks at the di