Word: cantor
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Cantor may not be able to consternate hapless college students with the ease of Kant or put one's head to the desk as swiftly as the Communist Manifesto. But he has made a commendable effort in his latest book, On Giving Birth to One's Own Mother...
...Cantor derived the title from a famous sketch by Arshile Gorky because he felt that Gorky's motive behind the drawing--the remaking of the self in art to overcome sadness--mirrors the purpose of the book. However, Cantor does little remaking of anything; he merely expounds on the injustices of conservatives and the scars left on our generation by the Vietnam...
...Cantor begins his work with a recapitulation of great modern questions (justice, intellectual progress, etc.). Unfortunately, he chooses some of the world's most controversial authors as philosophical influences for this book. Cantor claims that brilliant writers like Nietzsche and Freud have only revealed the pressing concerns of our society, not created them...
...However, Cantor disappoints the reader by digressing into lengthy historical and cultural examples to prove this point. By the time he reminds the reader of his original premise, we have lost the main idea. For example, he devotes the better part of a chapter to recapitulating the notions he put down in Krazy Kat, one of his previous works. While the reader floats in jargon and bygone culture, he misses the author's central concern, the lack of any stimulating media...
...Although Cantor's use of Freud's death instinct supplies this work with chunks of evidence, evolutionary theorists have successfully disputed this and many of other of Freud's basic theories. This unprofessional selection discredits Cantor's theory and obscures any original thought he might have contributed to this work...