The Destroyed World and the Guilty Self : A Psychoanalytic Study of Culture and Politics

David Levine and Matthew Bowker explore cultural and political trends organized around the conviction that the world we live in is a dangerous place to be, that it is dominated by hate and destruction, and that in it our primary task is to survive by carrying on a life-long struggle against hostile forces. Their method involves the analysis of public fantasies to reveal their hidden meanings. The central fantasy explored is the fantasy of a destroyed world, which appears most commonly in the form of post-apocalyptic and dystopian narratives. Their special concern in the book is with defenses against the painful consequences of the dominance of this fantasy in the inner world, especially defenses involving the use of guilt to assure that something can be done to repair the destroyed world. Topics explored include: the formation of internal fortresses and their projection into the world outside, forms of guilt including bystander guilt and survivor guilt, the loss of and search for home, and manic forms of reparation. Contents 6 About the Authors 8 Introduction 10 1. Godforsaken 20 2. Being Wrong 38 3. Guilt and Responsibility 56 4. Guilty Selves and Social Systems 68 5. Shame and the Impaired Self 82 6. Speaking Out, Remaining Silent 96 7. Abandonment 118 8. Survivors 130 9. Privilege 156 10. The Broken Family and the Destroyed World 170 Conclusion 184 References 196 Index 204