Enactments : American modes and psychohistorical models
Enactments addresses several needs. It introduces readers to the young field of psychohistory, examines the continuous interplay of psychoanalytic insights with the irrational forces that shape history, and systematizes a highly diverse field into six usable models. These models begin with analogies to the theater as arena of accepted illusion and dramatic characters as types of imposters. Political processes then come into sharper focus as the leader serves as delegate for a host of popular wishes, fears, and agendas that extend into the unconscious and comprise a group-fantasy. Group-fantasy not only empowers the delegate, but also defines and occasionally destroys this chosen figure as well. From the classical stage to the modern political arena, the hero as leader and group-fantasy delegate becomes embroiled in sacrificial agendas as the heat for magical solutions is turned up
Print Book, English, ©1996
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press ; Associated University Presses, Madison, London, ©1996
History
356 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780838635919, 0838635911
33101634