Of Love and Lust: On the Psychoanalysis of Romantic and Sexual Emotions Book

FROM THE WORKS OF THEODOR REIK Of Love and Lust On the Psychoanalysis of Romantic and Sexual Emotions by THEODOR REIK THE NOONDAY PRESS A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux New York Contents Publishers Preface ix Authors Note Theme and Variations xi Part One A Psychologist Looks at Love i Part Two Masochism in Modern Man 195 Part Three The Unmarried 367 Part Four The Emotional Differences of the Sexes 405 Publishers Preface Of Love and Lust is the second of a series of volumes of selec tions from Theodor Reiks works, of which The Search Within The Inner Experiences of a Psychoanalyst, was the first. The Search Within was a synthesis of his personal life, his training, practice and the development of his philosophy. In this new volume he is concerned with the love life and the sexual life of men and women. It is not only a discussion of the differences in attitude toward love and sex but toward many aspects of the cultural pattern of today. Only the brave can struggle to love he writes. This particular volume contains only material written since 1943 not more than a third of it has ever been published in book form much of it was written within the last year and is appearing here for the first time. Our publishing relation has been close since Dr. Reik arrived in the United States as a refugee in 1938. He did not wish to edit these books himself and has asked me to do so and to explain them briefly. Part One of this volume is taken from one of his most successful books, A Psychologist Looks at Love, out of print now for some years. It shows his departure from his master, Freuds, theories and from those of most of his contemporaries in psychology and psychoanalysis. The sex urge he maintains, hunts for lustful pleasure love is in search of joy and happiness. Part Two is from Reiks great contribution to psychological literature, Masochism in Modern Man. In using less than half the book, I have attempted to keep those parts which have a direct bearing on the subject of this particular book and also the core of Reiks new contributions to his subject. Much of his com parison with Freuds theories has been eliminated as have his ix chapters on social, religious and cultural aspects of masochism. However, the phenomena and dynamics of masochism are here as well as their relation to femininity. The summing up of Reiks theory is contained in the chapter Victory Through Defeat. Part Three, The Unmarried consists of two essays, written for the symposium Why Are You Single, edited by Hilda Hol land. Reik speaks plainly, as always, of the marriage shyness of the male and the psychological fears and resistances of both men and women to an acceptance of the marriage bond. Part Four, The Emotional Differences of the Sexes, is the new and unpublished material. There are some forty-nine sections, some of them are long essays, some trenchant, short, almost anec dotal ones. He asks, Why shouldnt we know how the other half of the world feels and he adds, In our civilization, men are afraid that they will not be men enough and women are afraid that they might be considered only women. He tries to probe into the secret ways in which men and women search for happiness. The material is clear, brisk, often startling. It is filled with examples from shrewdly observed case histories. His ma terial varies from frank comments on the emotional mechanisms of the sexual act to studies of the differences between men and women in manifold situations and in their fancied and real characteristics. He is often profound, but often satirical and witty as well. There are essays on Guilt Feelings, on Impotence, Jealousy, The Sexualization of Clothes, Homosexuality, Man and Money, Wit, Children. Fie writes of all this with sympathy and understanding, not hesitating to agree or disagree with other authorities. It is Reik in his mellowest mood, but uncompromis ing as always...Read More