Discussion of Kurt O. Schlesinger's Article, Thoughts on King Lear and the Current Generation Gap

Schlesinger offers the reader a beautifully written and profoundly thoughtful paper which is both literary criticism and social criticism. I shall confine my comments solely to the latter aspect, specifically, to the controversy about permissiveness.

Essentially, he suggests that a variety of interrelated psychodynamic factors, based on concepts derived from the study of intrapsychic and interpersonal conflicts, may be applied in an explanatory way to the revolt of today's youth against the legacy of their elders. I find his statements persuasive when he emphasizes the role played by aggression, subordination, and homicidal exploitation of the young. It does seem clear that traditional channels for the reactions of the young to these circumstances are no longer effective and that new forms of expression, not always constructive, are being developed. However, Schlesinger's statements about the relevance of “liberalism and permissiveness” seem inconsistent and questionable. He states, for example, “Liberalism and permissiveness can become a smothering encumbrance as young adulthood is reached. Open-minded, noncensorious sexual attitudes may make it more difficult for youth to feel their sexuality as wholly theirs, as won out of struggle, rather than as given.” In effect, he suggests that the liberal ethic of American parents has denied to American youth the kind of firm opposition which has previously offered youth a tonic opportunity to struggle for and achieve identity. Thus some are driven to “… extremes in an effort to engage in a meaningful, oppositional identity struggle.”

First there arises the important question of whether the vaunted liberalism of American parents is deep or only superficial. Dr. Schlesinger seems to raise this question himself when, later in the

paper, he notes, “The point of significant difference for youth comes then in the degree of commitment.” Another related fact is that young people are revolting in Nanterre, Berlin, and Tokyo. It is