You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Oh, God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
Abe said, “Man, you must be puttin' me on”
God said, “No” Abe say, “What?”
God say, “You can do what you want, Abe, but
The next time you see me comin', you better run”
Well, Abe said, “Where d'you want this killin' done?”
God said, “Out on Highway 61”
Rosine Jozef Perelberg has written a book that she hopes will renew interest in the classical Freudian perspective on the Oedipus complex for psychoanalysis. Her combination of wide-ranging cross-disciplinary scholarship, deep grasp of psychoanalytic theory from multiple perspectives, and illustrative clinical work make for a challenging but very productive reading experience. Her clear writing style and her willingness to explain ideas in detail more than once throughout the book allowed me to chew on and take in some of the more difficult approaches (especially from French psychoanalysis) to the complexity of the Oedipus complex and the paternal function in oedipal configurations. While her subtitle modestly asserts “revisiting the Oedipus complex,” it seems to me that her intent is to reclaim it and put it in what she sees as its rightful place, at the center of psychoanalysis.
Several chapters provide detailed examples from Perelberg's clinical work to show how her ideas are applied in the consulting room. She introduces a new idea, the phantasy of “a father is being beaten,” to help clinicians recognize when their (mostly male) patients are working through conflicts that allow a transformation from an anal sadistic to an oedipal
organization. She also includes a chapter on the application of her ideas to the Holocaust and understanding Auschwitz as a dreadful example of when the dead father is murdered, leading to a rupture in the lawfulness of European culture. Altogether, her book represents a remarkable exposition of an old concept made new with innovative thinking and impressive scholarship.