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The Psychology of Death in Fantasy and History
Jerry S. Piven
ISBN: 0-275-98178-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98178-5
336 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 3/30/2004
List Price: $107.95 (UK Sterling Price: £74.95)
Discount Price: $53.98 Sale Price for U.S. Customers Only. Save 50%. Ends 12/31/2009.
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Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: This volume investigates the impact of death consideration on such phenomena as Buddhist cosmology, the poetry of Rilke, cults and apocalyptic dreams, Japanese mythology, creativity, and even psychotherapy. Death is seen as a critical motivation for the genesis of artistic creations and monuments, of belief systems, fantasies, delusions and numerous pathological syndromes. Culture itself may be understood as the innumerable ways that societies defend themselves against helplessness and annihilation, how they mould and recreate the world in accordance with their wishes and anxieties, the social mechanisms employed to deny annihilation and death. Whether one speaks of the construction of massive burial tombs, magical transformations of death into eternal life, afterlives or resurrections, the need to cope with death and deny its terror and effect are the sine qua non of religion, culture, ideology, and belief systems in general.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction: Approaching Death by Jerry S. Piven
    Death, Power, and the Politics of Self-Destruction by Siamak Movahedi
    Buddhism, Death, and the Feminine by Jerry S. Piven
    Uncanny Dolls: Images of Death in Rilke and Freud by Eva-Maria Simms
    Death, Fantasy, and Religious Transformations by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi
    Europe's Culture of Death by Rudolph Binion
    Creativity and Death by Hans-Jurgen Wirth
    The Idol and Idolizers by Daniel Liechty
    Thoughts for the Times on Terrorism, War, and Death by Hans-Jurgen Wirth
    Love, Separation, and Death in a Japanese Myth by Yuko Katsuta
    Fundamentalism, Defilement, and Death by George Victor
    Death, Neurosis, and Normalcy by Jerry S. Piven
    Unveiling Mexican Cultural Essences: Death and Spirituality by Luz Maria Solloa Garcia
    Adaptive Insights into Death Anxiety by Robert Langs
    Laughing at Death by Neil Elgee
    The Contributors
About the Author: JERRY S. PIVEN teaches in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at New School University.
LCC Class: 155
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