Word: freudians
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Evidently Lasch feels himself capable not only of a wild expansion of Freudian thought but also of taking on and combining the problems of faith and interpretation involved in both systems...
...thought. Lasch belongs to that school of intellectuals which insists on understanding life from a theoretical point of view. This school is in the habit of frequently changing its textbooks; but the form of its message (as opposed to the matter) remains constant. Whether one is religious, Marxist, or Freudian (to take these texts in historical, perhaps hysterical order), one is in possession of the truth: the welfare of the rest of the country, whether it likes it or not, depends on its being enlightened, converted, and, afterwards, being helped to lead its new life. Any adulteration of or addition...
...certainly Lasch is wrong when he asserts that the realistic novel has been deprived of its usual targets: "hypocrisy, pomposity, misguided idealism, self-deception." The best novelists at work today, most notably the British, have satirized Freudian idealists and fools as ruthlessly as they attacked all the older stupidities. Lasch, however, might not find this literature entirely to his taste: a recurrent suggestion in these works is that the attempt to mix "modernist" with "traditionalist" values is at best messy and funny and at worst misguided and fatal. Iris Murdoch, to name only the most intelligent of these writers...
...most interesting (and also the most convoluted) section of The Minimal Self is the conclusion, which deals with politics. Lasch examines and rejects positions he describes as analagous to liberalism and conservatism, instead suggesting a more sound third position through an insinuatingly critical summary of post-Freudian attempts to explain modern politics. The argument is weak end have by Lasch's refusal to state exactly what he means by liberalism or conservatism, and by his failure to articulate his own views. The best part of this section is the author's observation that the standard liberal dogmas of environmentalism, egalitarianism...
...revealed as California Girl, apotheosis of the workout ethic. Kara must save the world from the malefic Selena (Faye Dunaway), high priestess of Endor and part-time palmist. In this task, Supergirl is aided by her Krypton father Zaltar (Peter OToole), who, as in every other Freudian fable from Oedipus Rex to Star Wars, must die before his offspring can reach maturity, self-knowledge and power...