Oedipus Dreaming: A Kleinian Reading of The Diabolic Tragedy

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Chapter 1 Oedipus Dreaming: A Kleinian Reading of The Diabolic Tragedy

In: A Casebook Edition of The Diabolic Tragedy

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Pages:: 16–23

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004720626_003

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This commentary argues that the narrative situation in The Diabolic Tragedy is best interpreted as a near-perfect articulation of the early oedipal situation. It begins with an account of how the narrative captures the difficulties experienced by the infant going through what Melanie Klein class the ‘depressive position’. The misery of the protagonist of the story, the last man, is interpreted in terms of the infant’s depressive feelings resulting from the belief that his violent fantasies have damaged or even destroyed his mother’s body. However, this commentary also advances the idea that the story deals symbolically with the successful resolution of these difficulties: the infant proceeds to the stage of genital desire and the early development of an oedipal relation to the mother. Of special interest is the scene in the palace gardens when the last man, looking up into the branches of the Tree of Ignorance, sees an erect serpent climbing up through its branches. This paper argues that this moment represents a turning point in the inner life of the infant. On beholding his parents (in full coitus), he understands that his attacks were entirely ineffective and that he is blameless. There is a burgeoning of genital desire (the last man engages in sexual intercourse with the last woman). The desire in question, it is explained, is a manifestation of the wish on the part of the infant to proceed with what Klein conceptualizes as ‘reparation’. The infant begins to repair both his internal and external objects at this key moment in his development, and a fully oedipal relation to the parents seems immanent.

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A Casebook Edition of The Diabolic Tragedy

Critical Essays and Translation

Series: Mini-Monographs in Literary and Cultural Studies, Volume: 7

Cover A Casebook Edition of <i>The Diabolic Tragedy</i>

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004720626

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 16 Jan 2025

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- Literature and Cultural Studies

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Chapter 1 Oedipus Dreaming: A Kleinian Reading of The Diabolic Tragedy

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A Casebook Edition of The Diabolic Tragedy

Critical Essays and Translation

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