PRAISE FOR LOUISE J. KAPLAN On The Domesday Dictionary A dictionary pertinent to the times. A work to be read with hypnotizing shock. Newsweek Excellent encyclopedia of the folklore of the Atomic Age...A factual, terrifying and very funny book. Washington Star Measured and brilliant handling of the tragic irony which in itself would make the book a delight and perhaps even a weapon the Great Lost Cause which the definition of the human imagination and of human anything appears to have become. W. S. Merwin The Domesday Dictionary is an imaginative work. It integrates paradox with infuriatingly true characterizations in a surprising and original manner. Theodor Reik One of the season s most interesting books...a striking critique of 20th century life and thought. Wilmington Delaware Journal A brilliantly done job. William Styron A sleeper in more ways than one. In format and style it is unusual. The authors do a fascinating job on contemporary civilization. New Haven Register On The Family Romance of the Impostor Poet Thomas Chatterton Clinical psychologist Louise Kaplan combines meticulous scholarship with shrewd and mostly jargon-free insights into the dynamics of imposture. Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World Fascinating and often highly illuminating... Louise J. Kaplan approaches this remarkable story as a psychoanalyst with a special interest in the problems of adolescence... The book is well worth reading. Chatterton was an extraordinary individual, and he turns out to be even more extraordinary in realistic close-up than in romantic legend. John Gross, The New York Times What raises Kaplan s biography above the norm is her study of Chatterton as a precocious and neurotic adolescent... Her presentation of a highly talented fatherless boy surrounded by adoring female family is very convincing. Anstiss Drake, Chicago Tribune Louise Kaplan has the gift of bringing to life any person or subject of interest to her. Judith Rossner At last, a psycho-biography that works...a rich and illuminating mix of biography, history and psychoanalytic theory. Vicki Goldberg A kind of psychoanalytic detective story with many of the trappings of a picaresque novel...a thoroughly unusual and enjoyable piece of work. Morris Dickstein On Adolescence Kaplan has blended poetry, scholarship, and sensitive psychological insight to produce a major contribution to the literature of human development. Aaron Esman, M.D.
A groundbreaking book that redefines the meaning of adolescence. Publishers Weekly Kaplan gives a fresh interpretation of that phase of human existence about which nobody agrees...a naturally lyrical style enables the author to do what adolescents do: to weave past, present and future on a thread of imagination and create new possibilities. Contemporary Psychology The author s magisterial style and psychological insight combine to make this book a watershed in the study of adolescence. Cultural Information Service Kaplan s understanding of these traumatic years is a milestone in the literature of child development. Tulsa Daily World Parents will embrace this professional s eloquent understanding, and Kaplan s colleagues will surely benefit from her empathy and insight. The Boston Sunday Globe At last, adolescence is treated with the respect and understanding that has long been its due... Dazzling scholarship, warm sympathy, original insights and brilliant interpretation make it a must for anyone who is puzzled by the behavior of adolescents. Bel Kaufman Brilliant, original, fascinating, poetical, beautiful, vibrant, spontaneous, clear, compassionate, eloquent, dazzling, insightful, warm, sympathetic, sensitive, deep, and aesthetically pleasurable. When so much jargon is lavished on adolescence, it is refreshing to obtain an original portrait of this enigmatic age. E. James Anthony, M.D. On Oneness and Separateness Sound, knowledgeable and powerfully written... unified by Dr. Kaplan s unblinking focus on real human babies and how they act and by her own clear and lyrical voice. The Boston Globe An eloquent and beautiful book...a stunning interpretive drama of the mother-child relationship that reaches into the very mind of the baby. Molly Haskell Here is a book I would give to every mother- and father-to-be... Kaplan makes the first years of life come alive in such a tactile, empathetic way that the reader not only feels with the infant, but for the child who lives on in himself. Nancy Friday On No Voice is Ever Wholly Lost Scholarly and poetic, No Voice is Ever Wholly Lost speaks to both the intellect and the heart, offering profound and healing insights into loss, grief, and reconnection. Judith Viorst, author of Necessary Losses With all the self-help junk passing for books, it s a pleasure to read a work with depth, vision and scholarship on a subject that merits these strengths. Betty Rollin, author of Last Wish and First You Cry
A lovely, deeply comforting meditation on loss, grief, and the triumphs of human survival. Martha Lear, author of Heartsounds On Female Perversions This masterful study breaks new ground in our understanding of sexuality, gender roles and the way modern society trivializes erotic expression. Publishers Weekly A great discovery, a new lens focused on the female condition. Fay Weldon, Allure A fascinating and ambitious new study. The New York Times Sunday Book Review Lucid, provocative, and tremendously literate. Voice Literary Supplement Kaplan has done that rare thing to write a book for a general audience that can also interest the more narrow technical audience of psychoanalysts. This book is that almost lost phenomena in the contemporary corporate publishing world: an intellectually accomplished book accessible to a general readership. Psychoanalytic Psychology Written with a sense of moral courage, breaking new ground in various ways about gender and society, cultural and political supports that enhance but also diminish who we are as infants, children, adolescents, and adults. Psychoanalytic Books
Cultures of Fetishism
By Louise J. Kaplan The Domesday Dictionary (with Donald M. Kaplan and Armand Schwerner) Oneness and Separateness: From Infant to Individual Adolescence: The Farewell to Childhood The Family Romance of the Impostor-Poet Thomas Chatterton Female Perversions: The Temptations of Emma Bovary No Voice Is Ever Wholly Lost
Cultures of Fetishism Louise J. Kaplan
CULTURES OF FETISHISM Louise J. Kaplan, 2006. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-1-4039-6968-2 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2006 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-73530-3 ISBN 978-0-230-60120-8 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230601208 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kaplan, Louise J. Cultures of fetishism / Louise J. Kaplan p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Psychoanalysis and culture. 2. Social sciences and psychoanalysis. 3. Fetishism. I. Title. BF175.4.C84K37 2006 150.19 5 dc22 2006043197 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: October 2006 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Ariel and Marae
Contents Permissions xiii One Fetishism and the Fetishism Strategy 1 Two Unraveling Freud on Fetishism 15 Three Footbinding and the Cultures of Fetishism that Breed It 35 Four The Body of a Woman: Making Films 51 Five Writing on the Skin 71 Six Archive Fever: Writing Lives 93 Seven Unfree Associations: The Training of Psychoanalysts 111 Eight The Fetishism of Commodities 131 Nine Robots and Humans: Silicon and Carbon 155 Ten Cultures of Fetishism 175 References and Notes 191 Index 213
Permissions The author gratefully acknowledges permission to quote: From Writing Lives, Principia Biographia by Leon Edel, copyright by Leon Edel, 1984, 1959. Used by permission of W.W. Norton and Company, New York. From Robots, by Daniel Ichbiah, translated from Genese d un peuple artificiel by Ken Kincaid. Published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York. All rights reserved. From Full Pockets, Empty Lives by Paul L. Wachtel, copyright by Paul L. Wachtel, 1999. The author also gratefully acknowledges: Peter Rudnysky, editor of American Imago. The introductory pages of chapter four, The Body of a Woman: Making Films. are derived from a paper I delivered at the spring meeting of Division 39 on April 14, 1993, and subsequently published in American Imago Winter, 1993, Vol. 50, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Chapter Four is a much expanded version of some of the ideas in Fits and Misfits. Howard Levy s classic Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom. Levy s extensive research helped to inform the details of the imposturous memoir in chapter three, My Beloved and Terrible Lotus, purportedly written by A Hsui. I also thank Brian McMahon, the permissions editor at Prometheus Books, for granting permission for this use of Levy s research.