Fantasies of Love and Death in Life and Art

Download or read book Fantasies of Love and Death in Life and Art written by Helen K Gediman and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 1995-06-01 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Love and death are prevalent motifs in legend, art, literature, and opera, as well as in the fantasies of most people. In art and life, the love/death archetype transcends culture, time, and geography. This book addresses two kinds of fantasies of love and death, one the passionate wish to die together with a loved one, the other the desire to extend one's life—and loves—after death. Illustrating how these love/death phenomena span a continuum from the normal to the pathological, Helen Gediman delves into the psychoanalytic meanings of these fantasies and motifs, as embedded in the arts, as well as in the human psyche.