The Destroyed World and the Guilty Self
A Psychoanalytic Study of Culture and Politics
By (author) David P. Levine By (author) Matthew H. Bowker
Paperback (Published)
(May 2019)
ISBN: 9781912691135
5.98 x 9.02 inches
Price: $44.95
In stock
From David P. Levine and Matthew H. Bowker, an exploration of cultural and political trends which investigates the wide-ranging fantasy of the destroyed world to gain insight into the emotional core of our society and understand what drives our fascination with it.
David Levine and Matthew Bowker explore cultural and political trends organized around the conviction that the world we live in is a dangerous place to be, that it is dominated by hate and destruction, and that in it our primary task is to survive by carrying on a life-long struggle against hostile forces. Their method involves the analysis of public fantasies to reveal their hidden meanings. The central fantasy explored is the fantasy of a destroyed world, which appears most commonly in the form of post-apocalyptic and dystopian narratives. Their special concern in the book is with defenses against the painful consequences of the dominance of this fantasy in the inner world, especially defenses involving the use of guilt to assure that something can be done to repair the destroyed world. Topics explored include: the formation of internal fortresses and their projection into the world outside, forms of guilt including bystander guilt and survivor guilt, the loss of and search for home, and manic forms of reparation.
About the authors
Introduction
1. Godforsaken
2. Being Wrong
3. Guilt and Responsibility
4. Guilty Selves and Social Systems
5. Shame and the Impaired Self
6. Speaking Out, Remaining Silent
7. Abandonment
8. Survivors
9. The Broken Family and the Destroyed World
Conclusion
References
Index
- By (author) David P. Levine
- By (author) Matthew H. Bowker
…the book offers an important and substantive argument in our fraught political times. Levine and Bowker assert core Object Relations principles, and bring with them a broader defence of Enlightenment values of individuality and progress – coming to terms with our faults and subjectivity will not help us achieve empathy, we need psychological integration and alignment with reality.
— Rachael McKeown, Psychodynamic Counsellor
'The authors exhibit a remarkable mastery of classical and contemporary bibliography. [...] Often in the academic world, it is said of a text that it is "thought provoking." Levine and Bowker’s monograph falls into that category. I would say that this is the best adjective that can be assigned to a book. [...] A detailed and complex exposition that pushes the reader to think.'
— Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Torres, MD, PhD, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2023, 83, (590–593)
While reading this book, I enjoyed the jolts I got from recognizing human nature refracted through the traumatizing scenarios of the TV shows and novels the authors explored. I think there is much to recommend this book.
— Annie Peskin
Similar Books
Attics and Basements
The Evocative, Expressive and Embracing Functions of Homes and Other Human Dwellings
Between Bones and Beliefs
Human-Bird Relations in Central and Northern Europe in the First Millennium AD
Volume 4
Beyond Sovereign Courts
Agents and Practices in Early Modern Spanish and Habsburg Diplomacy
Volume 3
Aporien des Geschichtsunterrichts?
Suchbewegungen im Spannungsfeld zwischen Geschichtsdidaktik und Sonderpädagogik
Volume 40
Credit Default Swap-Aktivismus
Eine ökonomische Analyse und rechtliche Bewertung der Einflussnahme von Credit Default Swap-Investoren auf Unternehmen
Figuren des Relationalen
(Queer-)Feministische Perspektiven auf visuelle Kultur, Geschichte und Erinnerungsarbeit bei Walter Benjamin und Alexander Kluge
Volume 8
Indirekte Enteignung
Verfassungsunmittelbar gebotene Entschädigungspflicht im Spiegel des Mehrebenensystems
Sitten zwischen Moralphilosophie und Politischer Okonomie am Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts
Mit einer zweisprachigen Edition von Ludwig Heinrich Jakobs Preisschrift Quelles sont les institutions les plus propres a fonder la morale d'un peuple
Wertebildung in der Schule
Struktur, Vermittlung, Entwicklungsdynamik - Herausforderungen und Ambivalenzen
A Companion to Political Leadership in Central and Eastern Europe after 1990
Democratization – Political Parties – Elections
Volume 3