Erotic literature -- History and criticism; Psychoanalysis and literature; Sex in literature
We now come to another species of literature that is important for the
psychoanalytic critic. This is a class of writing which delineates
primæval and immoral emotions. It often shows us the conflicts
between savage emotions still lurking in man, and the demands of
civilisation. Either force may triumph, but the real interest of
these works is that they show the old cave dweller is not yet dead
within us, and that civilisation is achieved gradually by suppressing
these old emotions; sometimes these needs are strong and must not be
extirpated too suddenly; in fact in some specific cases must be granted
satisfaction. Among some of the interesting books in recent years have
been tales where primitive emotions have been depicted as conquering
their victims. Note Conrad's _Heart of Darkness_, where it is shown
how the old barbarian instincts and the cry of the forest are part
of us and may be revived in us. Jack London's _Call of the Wild_ is
an interesting allegory on the subject. It is well known that we are
descended from forbears who were wilder than the most savage tribes of
to-day. Naturally some of the emotions they felt are not altogether
extinct in us. Civilisation is after all but a veneer and slight causes
may stir up brutal sensations in many people. They are still in our
unconscious and form for the literary man very fascinating though often
dangerous material. Shakespeare understood this when he drew Caliban.
Poe once said that no writer would dare to write truly all his inner
thoughts and feelings, for the very paper would burn beneath them.
What he meant was that all writers, even the bravest, suppress those
unconscious elements in their nature that are related to immorality,
indecency, degeneracy, morbidity and cruelty. It may not be advisable
for writers continually to remind the reader of the remnant echoes
and memories of our primitive state, which have fortunately been made
quiescent but not been completely exterminated by culture. In the
confessions of criminals, in the pathological disclosures of sexually
aberrated people given to physicians, in the records of atrocities
committed in time of war, we have illustrations of the atavisms of our
day. Often a diseased literary man ventures far in baring his soul
and we get the morbid and immoral material that provides food for the
unhealthy.
As a rule the author's sense of propriety and prudence act as a censor
for him and hedge in his dormant savage feelings, so as not to allow
them to find a direct voice in his art. Yet we can often pierce through
the veil and observe exactly where the censor has been invoked and
guess fairly accurately what has been suppressed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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