If You Can't Trust Your Mother, Whom Can You Trust? : Soul Murder, Psychoanalysis and Creativity

The main theme of this book concerns the continuing psychic centrality of parents for their children. Several chapters examine an author and his works, outlining that author’s relationships with parents, good-and-bad, and making descriptive comments about these based both on information gleaned from the author’s life and writings as well as from observations found in autobiographies, biographies and critical works. Since these studies in part concern stories of child abuse and deprivation, the book predominantly illustrates bad parenting that seems to have contributed to the child’s psychopathology. Yet in most cases there has also been an evocation by the trauma and deprivation of adaptive and even creative reactions--this positive effect also of course largely attributable to concomitant good parenting--and yet there are some cases where little of this seems to have existed and yet the children still turn out to be able to make something of themselves. The conditions that make for psychic health in a traumatized childhood are mysterious and can’t always be accounted for. The central mental and emotional importance of the parents in the earliest development of the child’s body and mind is generally accepted. The continuing lifelong centrality of parental actual and (predominantly unconscious) psychic presences that can motivate emotions, thoughts, and actions, and persist for the rest of a person’s life, is frequently not recognized, acknowledged, nor denied. As the author notes, "We spend so much of our lives, especially as middle age and old age approaches, waiting for a magically endowed good parent who will fulfill the promise of our earliest years, waiting, as Becket puts it, for Godot to restore us to our narcissistic beginnings, at least intermittently full of the promise of eternal happy existence." Cover 1 i 2 ii 3 iii 4 iv 5 v 6 vi 7 vii 8 viii 9 ix 10 x 11 xi 12 xii 13 xiii 14 xiv 15 xv 16 xvi 17 001 18 002 19 003 20 004 21 005 22 006 23 007 24 008 25 009 26 010 27 011 28 012 29 013 30 014 31 015 32 016 33 017 34 018 35 019 36 020 37 021 38 022 39 023 40 024 41 025 42 026 43 027 44 028 45 029 46 030 47 031 48 032 49 033 50 034 51 035 52 036 53 037 54 038 55 039 56 040 57 041 58 042 59 043 60 044 61 045 62 046 63 047 64 048 65 049 66 050 67 051 68 052 69 053 70 054 71 055 72 056 73 057 74 058 75 059 76 060 77 061 78 062 79 063 80 064 81 065 82 066 83 067 84 068 85 069 86 070 87 071 88 072 89 073 90 074 91 075 92 076 93 077 94 078 95 079 96 080 97 081 98 082 99 083 100 084 101 085 102 086 103 087 104 088 105 089 106 090 107 091 108 092 109 093 110 094 111 095 112 096 113 097 114 098 115 099 116 100 117 101 118 102 119 103 120 104 121 105 122 106 123 107 124 108 125 109 126 110 127 111 128 112 129 113 130 114 131 115 132 116 133 117 134 118 135 119 136 120 137 121 138 122 139 123 140 124 141 125 142 126 143 127 144 128 145 129 146 130 147 131 148 132 149 133 150 134 151 135 152 136 153 137 154 138 155 139 156 140 157 141 158 142 159 143 160 144 161 145 162 146 163 147 164 148 165 149 166 150 167 151 168 152 169 153 170 154 171 155 172 156 173 157 174 158 175 159 176 160 177 161 178 162 179 163 180 164 181 165 182 166 183 167 184 168 185 169 186 170 187 171 188 172 189 173 190 174 191 175 192 176 193 177 194 178 195 179 196 180 197 181 198 182 199 183 200 184 201 185 202 186 203 187 204 188 205 189 206 190 207 191 208 192 209 193 210 194 211 195 212 196 213 197 214 198 215 199 216 200 217 201 218 202 219 203 220 204 221 205 222 206 223 207 224 208 225 209 226 210 227 211 228 212 229 213 230 214 231 215 232 216 233 217 234 218 235 219 236 220 237 221 238 222 239 223 240 224 241 225 242 226 243 227 244 228 245 229 246 230 247 231 248 232 249 233 250 234 251 235 252 236 253 237 254 238 255 239 256 240 257 241 258 242 259 243 260 244 261 245 262 246 263 247 264 248 265 249 266 250 267 251 268 252 269 253 270 254 271 255 272 256 273 257 274 258 275 259 276 260 277 261 278 262 279 263 280 264 281 265 282 266 283 267 284 268 285 269 286 270 287 271 288 272 289 273 290 274 291 275 292 276 293 277 294 278 295 279 296 280 297 281 298 282 299 283 300 284 301 285 302 286 303 287 304 288 305 289 306 290 307 291 308 292 309 293 310 294 311 295 312 296 313 297 314 298 315 299 316 300 317 301 318 302 319 303 320 304 321 305 322 306 323 307 324 308 325 309 326 310 327 311 328 312 329 313 330 314 331 315 332 316 333 317 334 318 335 The main theme of this book concerns the continuing psychic centrality of parents for their children. Several chapters examine an author and his works, outlining that author s relationships with parents, good-and-bad, and making descriptive comments about these based both on information gleaned from the author s life and writings as well as from observations found in autobiographies, biographies and critical works. Since these studies in part concern stories of child abuse and deprivation, the book predominantly illustrates bad parenting that seems to have contributed to the child s psychopathology. Yet in most cases there has also been an evocation by the trauma and deprivation of adaptive and even creative reactions--this positive effect also of course largely attributable to concomitant good parenting--and yet there are some cases where little of this seems to have existed and yet the children still turn out to be able to make something of themselves. The conditions that make for psychic health in a traumatized childhood are mysterious and can t always be accounted for.The central mental and emotional importance of the parents in the earliest development of the child s body and mind is generally accepted. The continuing lifelong centrality of parental actual and (predominantly unconscious) psychic presences that can motivate emotions, thoughts, and actions, and persist for the rest of a person s life, is frequently not recognized, acknowledged, nor denied. As the author notes, "We spend so much of our lives, especially as middle age and old age approaches, waiting for a magically endowed good parent who will fulfill the promise of our earliest years, waiting, as Becket puts it, for Godot to restore us to our narcissistic beginnings, at least intermittently full of the promise of eternal happy existence." Deals with the continuing psychic centrality of parents for their children. In this book, several chapters examine an author and his works, outlining that author's relationships with parents, good-and-bad, and making descriptive comments about these based on information gleaned from the author's life and writings.