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rumaysa0_0 's review for:
Male Fantasies, Vol. 1: Women, Floods, Bodies, History
by Klaus Theweleit, Klaus Theweleit
This is volume one of Theweleit's now classic sweeping socio-psychoanalytic study on the proto-nazi paramilitary units called the Freikorps. He focused specifically on the ultra-right-wing militias and mercenaries that coalesced across Germany in the wake of World War I. This book is a broad (vol 1 & 2 make up 1100 pages), surreal examination of fascist masculinity.
Theweleit published this in 1977, and at the time, academia was filled with sociological and scathing marxist approaches to the psychology of fascism. In response, he deliberately takes a different, more psychoanalytic, detached perspective here. Although he does use Deleuze & Guattari, Foucault, and other usual critical theory suspects for his analysis, clearly making it an anti-fascist book.
Theweleit is absolutely fascinated with the perversion and violence of these men. He goes into the cavernous depths of their fantasies, sexuality and base passions. The basic thread that weaves this book is the inextricable link between sex and violence, between the domestic and the militant in these men's lives. He uses extensive quotes to demonstrate this juncture throughout. He never describes them as perverse, rather showing them as an extreme example of an inherent truth about sex, or rather of human desire. For them, death and destruction are a form of creation, a "reproduction," as Ehrenreich calls it in the intro.
I have to say there were times when I just didn't like Theweleit's analysis a lot. It felt very contrived towards his thesis. Because the subjects are very fascinating, it still made for a worthy read anyway. His use of psychoanalytic literature is pretty masterly, not overdone. So, on the whole, I loved reading this and will pick up the second volume soon.
Theweleit published this in 1977, and at the time, academia was filled with sociological and scathing marxist approaches to the psychology of fascism. In response, he deliberately takes a different, more psychoanalytic, detached perspective here. Although he does use Deleuze & Guattari, Foucault, and other usual critical theory suspects for his analysis, clearly making it an anti-fascist book.
Theweleit is absolutely fascinated with the perversion and violence of these men. He goes into the cavernous depths of their fantasies, sexuality and base passions. The basic thread that weaves this book is the inextricable link between sex and violence, between the domestic and the militant in these men's lives. He uses extensive quotes to demonstrate this juncture throughout. He never describes them as perverse, rather showing them as an extreme example of an inherent truth about sex, or rather of human desire. For them, death and destruction are a form of creation, a "reproduction," as Ehrenreich calls it in the intro.
I have to say there were times when I just didn't like Theweleit's analysis a lot. It felt very contrived towards his thesis. Because the subjects are very fascinating, it still made for a worthy read anyway. His use of psychoanalytic literature is pretty masterly, not overdone. So, on the whole, I loved reading this and will pick up the second volume soon.