The Best American Poetry

Freud Quiz # 6

The title Beyond the Pleasure Principle refers to

(1) Death

(2) The unconscious

(3) The desire to retreat into the womb

(4)  The hero’s disastrous first marriage

(5) A German translation of the Arlen and Harburg song Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz

-- DL

Freud Quiz #5

What is the "compulsion to repeat"?

(a) the impulse to keep doing the thing that scares you -- in an effort to master the fear

(b) the wish to make the same mistake twice, and be forgiven 

(c) the reason why Hitler copied Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia

(d) the need to repeat the same futile action and the madness of expecting a different result

(e) the rhetorical strategy of using the same word (or an anagram of it) in every sentence of a paragraph

-- DL

Freud Quiz # 4

Freud came up with great titles, which poets like to steal, and the best of these is

(a) The Interpretation of Dreams

(b) Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious

(c) Civilization and Its Discontents

(d) The Problem of Anxiety

(e) Totem and Taboo

For extra credit, identify the names of two poets who have written "The Problem of Anxiety."

-- DL

Freud says. . .

A definitive example of the spontaneous aphorism:

"One is irresistibly reminded of an incident in the French Chamber when capital punishment was being debated. A member had been passionately supporting its abolition and his speech was being received with tumultuous applause, when a voice from the hall called out: 'Que messieurs les assassins commencent!' [Let the murderers make the first move.]"

--Freud. Civilization and Its Discontents

OK, everyone. What do you suppose has "irresistibly reminded" Freud of this incident?

-- DL

Freud Quiz # 3

What is "beyond the pleasure principle"?
(a)  A book by Sigmund Freud.
(b)  A vast right-wing conspiracy.
(c)  Death.
(d)  The dark side of the moon considered as an image for female sexuality.
(e)  The sadness following orgasm.

-- DL

Freud Quiz # 2

According to Freud in The Future of an Illusion, what is an illusion?

(a) A falsehood.

(b) Something that may be true or may come true but probably won't.

(c) Religion.

(d) Art.

(e) A ghost in the sense intended by Ibsen in his play Ghosts.

-- DL

Freud Quiz # 1

Freud in German means

(a) Fright

(b) Joy

(c) Sauteed lightly with olive oil

(d) "The young eagle, a rank impostor, fled the Reich."

(e) The same thing "it" means in English.

-- DL