Phallós

Fülszöveg

In this highly original and controversial book an eminent Danish psychiatrist considers the phallus as a symbol of poorer and dominance in life, literature and art throughout history. In particular he points to the use of phallic symbols as signals in the management of rank order among males.
The most challenging aspect of Phallós is Dr Vanggaard's belief in what he calls the homosexual radical - the drive towards a temporary hierarchical relationship endowed with a complex symbolism between a young man and his older mentor both of whom are otherwise normally heterosexual. He examines the nature and significance of this impulse, its manifestations in different cultures and its fate in our own. The suppression of this homosexual component is;;a legacy of Judeo-Christianity and came about as a result of the clash between the Jewish and the Greco-Roman cultures in the fourth century a.d. Much later, seemingly during the nineteenth century, this suppression developed into a... Tovább

Fülszöveg

In this highly original and controversial book an eminent Danish psychiatrist considers the phallus as a symbol of poorer and dominance in life, literature and art throughout history. In particular he points to the use of phallic symbols as signals in the management of rank order among males.
The most challenging aspect of Phallós is Dr Vanggaard's belief in what he calls the homosexual radical - the drive towards a temporary hierarchical relationship endowed with a complex symbolism between a young man and his older mentor both of whom are otherwise normally heterosexual. He examines the nature and significance of this impulse, its manifestations in different cultures and its fate in our own. The suppression of this homosexual component is;;a legacy of Judeo-Christianity and came about as a result of the clash between the Jewish and the Greco-Roman cultures in the fourth century a.d. Much later, seemingly during the nineteenth century, this suppression developed into a firm repression, banning from the consciousness of heterosexual men any awareness of their inherent homosexual proclivities. Both individually and socially this is impoverishing: it has reduced the value of friendship between men and created difficulties, yet unresolved, in male relationships established on a dominance-submission axis. The customs of ancient Greek and Norse cultures are compared with modern clinical experience, and this is supplemented with some recent observations on the behaviour of primates.
Thorkil Vanggaard's stimulating book is likely to provoke much discussion: it is bold, lively and scholarly, an important contribution to the related fields of psychology, sociology and ethology. Vissza