anti-oedipus is the key to reading Marechera’s writing – ie. regarding those who are aware enough of the lures of the oedipal but resist it on the basis of freedom and sometimes, paradoxically enough, conscience. It’s an adaptation not to have a supego when you belong to a category of person with whom there is no social contract.
Perhaps it is not so much preoedipal (although it is that) but anti-oedipal
the terror and disorientation of BS is pre-oedipal; the humour is anti-oedipal
FURTHERMORE: The superego – in its embyronic form – seems to already exist at the level of the pre-Oedipal. It seems that what the character of the father gives us is the EGO. Maybe this is not from the mother, and not from the mirror stage, but the real bestowal of patriarchal society.
Superego is not just “conscience” but it is fear of doing the wrong thing and being punished. It is the categorical imperative – AND the letter rather than the spirit of the law, according to Michael Mack. Therefore those whose behaviour is strongly guided by superego may be nothing more than more fearful and dependent individuals, compared to those whose behaviour is governed less by superego and more by other considerations.
No comments:
Post a Comment