Love and Hate in the Nursery and Beyond

A noted psychoanalyst here gives a profusely illustrated essay for a general audience, on the expressions of infantile desire of the breast, fear & hatred of the breast & the mother, & the terrors of abandonment in infancy & childhood, as all of these have been developed & transformed in the unconscious. The evidence presented here focuses on the creative works of a number of major artists, scientists, playwrights, filmmakers, naturalists, & philosophers. In masterful psychoanalytic detective work the author shows the common themes in Shaw's PYGMALION & the movie JAWS, the work & biographies of philosopher/mathematician Rene Descartes, artist William Hogarth (weird use of perspective), & agonized artists Munch, Utrillo, Giacometti, & naturalist John James Audubon. He explores the psychic meaning of birds in many cultures & artists & prehistoric "Venus" figurines. A chapter explores a "Trio of Misogynists"--G.B. Shaw, Alfred Hitchcock, & Charlie Chaplin--showing the role of early maternal maiming in the development of their personalities & their art. This is a masterful blend of psychoanalysis, prehistory, science & art. Publisher presents another variation on analysis of love: cf. LOVE & SEX IN 12 CULTURES. (PSYCHE PRESS 1989).