Tomorrow afternoon I’ll find myself at an event called Putting The Penis Into Envy, On The Couch With Sigmund Freud. “Sigmund Freud is synonymous with sexuality — penis envy, mother love, the Oedipus Complex, therapy for heavens sake! In the Gothic splendour of the Nicholson Museum and an informal champagne cream tea, a panel in the field will discuss gay issues raised by the work of Freud. An exhibition from the Freud Museum in London displays antiquities that surrounded and influenced the man.” Hosted by Marc Pesce, of all people. Wanna join me?
Hi Still, it was a pleasure meeting you afterward.
It was an illuminating event. Who’d think that a person would still create controversy so long after their death.
@Anastasia: Ah, you got in a comment before I got around to emailing you! Well done! Yes, Sunday was a hoot! I may write something about it, but then part of me also wants to leave it as an event that “just happened”. I thought Mark Pesce was a great host, too — but I have to say that, he’s watching…
I did a post on it, as the event that happened. So many points were raised, I lost count. I still can’t get over the controversial aspect. It would be something I’d read about in books, but to see the frisson or feel it (at some moments) was something else & in the 21st Century as well. Who knew?
@Anastasia: And let’s link to your wonderful post about the seminar, ‘cos it saves me having to write anything at all!
The little controversy I found fascinating was that spat between audience members, one who wanted to make A Big Deal about Freud being a “bourgeois Jew” and another who wanted to call that anti-Semitism. For them, it seems that everything had to be reduced to these simple formulas.
However I’m certainly aware of how people hang onto their controversy. On the 10th anniversary of Don Dunstan stepping down as Premier of South Australia, I did a vox pop on what people thought of him with the benefit of hindsight. I fully expected memories to have faded. However people were still as polarised as before — Dunstan was either The Great Enlightener or evil incarnate. The anger of the latter was palpable, even a decade on.