Overview

When the archetypal patriarchal or matriarchal dominate in a daughter's psyche, the positive masculine spirit does not mature sufficiently out of the maternal unconscious for there to be an optimal meeting between feminine and masculine principles. It becomes difficult for a more conscious, well-integrated, whole human being to develop. Where inadequate or incompetent fathering is combined with absent or passive, silent mothering, the balance is off; a daughter's talents and possibilities for the future can remain dormant-or fade away in self-doubt. These analytical discussions of two plays, The Heiress and A Delicate Balance, demonstrate how too much or too little parenting can have this detrimental effect. Particularly, when a father withdraws from the family and does not give loving attention to his daughter, or when he presents himself as an overbearing elder, he is neglecting to support his child in the natural process of separation from the mother/Mother-not helping her achieve personal autonomy and an individual life of her own. As an adult, such a daughter will likely find herself in a place not directed from within by her unique potential for wholeness, but rather in one dictated by the limiting expectations of her family and the collective patriarchal culture around her. Table of Contents -Preface -Introduction: Myth and Culture -The Daughter with an Emotionally Hostile Father: The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz -The Daughter with An Emotionally Absent Father: A Delicate Balance by Edward Albee -Concluding Remarks -References

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9781685030520

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Reviews

In her book, Anita Chapman describes the crippling effects of emotionally hostile, and emotionally absent fathers on their daughters. She presents two 20th century dramas which vividly illustrate such real life experiences. Tracing this psychic constellation of the Negative Father back to the first Greek gods, Ouranos and Kronos-who have no positive aspects-she reveals the archetypal background. It is precisely this combination of the concrete with the symbolic that allows her to make a differentiated contribution to this subject. Looking around us, we may well ask what is missing in so many Father/Daughter relationships? Why is such a father unaware of his daughter's value? What feminine values of his own psyche is he unaware of, ignoring, or excluding from his life? -Nathalie Baratoff, lic. phil., Jungian analyst, author of The Water of Life: Russian Tales in Jungian Perspective Anita Chapman guides us through the vicissitudes of one of the most complex and delicate human relationships-the one between a daughter and her father. As the first masculine human being in her life, the father evokes deep archetypal and emotional, spiritual aspirations in his daughter. He becomes the source of spirit. Thus, the spirit by which a father lives his life will affect the life of his daughter-either adversely or creatively-depending on the quality of his consciousness. The author examines this relationship thoroughly in her in-depth analysis of two plays. And she formulates the kind of spirit that will most benefit the daughter: a spirit which sees her in her absolute and unique individuality. The configuration Father/Daughter expresses the fundamental polarity between Logos and Eros, mind and soul. Dr. Chapman's writing accomplishes the union of these two principles. I recommend her book not only to specialists and students of Jungian Psychology, but to everyone. Dare I say, especially to the father who seeks to understand the silent and deepest spiritual needs of his daughter. -Pedro Kujawski, MA, Jungian analyst, IGAP, London

Author Information

Anita S. Chapman, Ph.D., is a Jungian Analyst in Asheville, North Carolina. She received her doctorate in Dramaturgy from the University of Amsterdam, and her Diploma in Analytical Psychology from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. She is the author of Edward Albee: The Poet of Loss, and Violence and Women: Exploring the Medea Myth.

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