Murdered Father, Dead Father: Revisiting the Oedipus Complex examines
the progressive construction of the notion of paternal function and its
central relevance in psychoanalysis.
The distinction between the murdered (narcissistic) father and the
dead father is seen as providing a paradigm for the understanding of
different types of psychopathologies, as well as works of literature,
anthropology and historical events. New concepts are introduced, such as
"a father is being beaten", and a distinction between the descriptive
après coup and the dynamic après coup that provides a model for a
psychoanalytic understanding of temporality. The book includes a
reflection on how the concepts of the death instinct and the
negative, in their connection with that which is at the limits of
representability, are an aid to an understanding of Auschwitz, a moment
of rupture in European culture that the author characterizes as " the
murder of the dead father".
Perelberg's book is an important clinical and intellectual marker, and
will be required reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists,
anthropologists, and historians, as well as students in all these
disciplines.