The Vetala Panchavimshati : Reflections on the Death Instinct

Fuente: Wiley Open Access
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Robert S. White
Natura: Artículo Open Access
Pubblicazione: Wiley 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1867012590114177024
author Robert S. White
author_facet Robert S. White
Robert S. White
collection Wiley Open Access
contents The Vetala Panchavimshati : Reflections on the Death Instinct Robert S. White International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies ABSTRACT The Vetala Panchavimshati , an ancient collection of tales from India, can be read as a trauma narrative, with hatred, murder, and death transmitted through multiple generations. Death permeates the tales that take place in a charnel ground and feature a man's consciousness sealed up in a corpse. The original meaning of the tales can be read as a profound philosophical meditation on impermanence, or as a Hindu householder's life. In this essay, I will interpret the tales as a commentary on the psychoanalytic ideas about the death instinct. Freud's version of the death instinct and the elaborations of Melanie Klein and Andre Green are reviewed. Two of the tales in the collection illustrate both the theories of Klein and Green. It is proposed that the death instinct as aggression and the death instinct as subjective deadening are complementary forms of expression of a basic way of the negative. 10.1002/aps.70013 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
doi_str_mv 10.1002/aps.70013
format Artículo Open Access
id wiley_oa_10_1002_aps_70013
institution Wiley Open Access
license_str_mv http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
publishDate 2025
publisher Wiley
record_format wiley_oa
spellingShingle The Vetala Panchavimshati : Reflections on the Death Instinct
Robert S. White
International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies
The Vetala Panchavimshati : Reflections on the Death Instinct Robert S. White International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies ABSTRACT The Vetala Panchavimshati , an ancient collection of tales from India, can be read as a trauma narrative, with hatred, murder, and death transmitted through multiple generations. Death permeates the tales that take place in a charnel ground and feature a man's consciousness sealed up in a corpse. The original meaning of the tales can be read as a profound philosophical meditation on impermanence, or as a Hindu householder's life. In this essay, I will interpret the tales as a commentary on the psychoanalytic ideas about the death instinct. Freud's version of the death instinct and the elaborations of Melanie Klein and Andre Green are reviewed. Two of the tales in the collection illustrate both the theories of Klein and Green. It is proposed that the death instinct as aggression and the death instinct as subjective deadening are complementary forms of expression of a basic way of the negative. 10.1002/aps.70013 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
title The Vetala Panchavimshati : Reflections on the Death Instinct
topic International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies
url https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aps.70013