Pages 269-278

This page-by-page annotation is organized by sections, as delineated by the seven squares (sprockets) which separate each section. The page numbers for this page-by-page annotation are for the original Viking edition (760 pages). Editions by other publishers vary in pagination — the newer Penguin editions are 776 pages; the Bantam edition is 886 pages.

Contributors: Please use a 760-page edition (either the original Viking edition with the orange cover or the Penguin USA edition with the blue cover and rocket diagram — there are plenty on Ebay for around $10) or search the Google edition for the correct page number. Readers: To calculate the Bantam edition use this formula: Bantam page # x 1.165. Before p.50 it's about a page earlier; as you get later in the book, add a page.

Finally, profound thanks to Prof. Don Larsson for providing the foundation for this page-by-page annotation.

Page 270

270.16 Floyd Perdoo
From the French "perdue": "lost."

Page 272

272.19 young Sigmund Freud
Refers to Freud’s rejection of the "seduction theory." Freud originally believed that many of his women patients suffered from neurotic behavior due to sexual abuse as children. He came to reject that belief as improbable and began to hypothesize the workings of the unconscious as a result. See Edwin Treacle’s musings at 277.03-05.

Page 277

277.03-05 as the dead father who never slept with you, Penelope, returns night after night to your bed, trying to snuggle in behind you..."

From an interview with Freud biographer Peter D. Kramer ^[1]:

Over time, Freud offered differing views on infantile sexuality, all of them problematic. The most dramatic mistake became associated with the phrase “seduction theory.” As he was turning forty, in a desperate attempt to achieve fame Freud gave a speech to his Viennese colleagues on the origins of hysteria. In it, he claimed to have analyzed a series of 18 patients suffering from hysteria or a combination of hysteria and obsessionality. In every case, he had uncovered evidence of an early sexual event. All the hysterics had experienced “coitus-like acts” between the ages of two and four—at the hands of parents, siblings, other relatives, or nannies — and these events were the original cause of their disorder. The tale of Freud’s entry into and exit from this stance is complex, but his original presentation suggests not so much that Freud was misled by patients but that he misdirected them through making his expectations clear.

Famously, Freud soon reversed the direction of infantile sexuality and claimed that what was pathogenic was children’s repressed desire for the parent of the opposite sex.

References

1. ↑ "An Interview with Freud Biographer Peter D. Kramer, California Literary Review Website, Jan 29, 2007