The undead mother : psychoanalytic explorations of masculinity, femininity, and matricide

Chapter 9 first appeared as "Beauty and the beast: the father's unconscious and the riddle of femininity" in The British Journal of Psychotherapy, vol, 8, no. 2.. Chapter 10 was first published as "The good-enough mother and the use of the object in women" in Winnicott Studies, no. 9.

1 Clytemnestra and Count Dracula. 2 Matricide and the Oedipus complex. 3 Masculinity and matricide. 4 Masculinity, femininity, and the death instinct. 5 Freud and femininity. 6 Mothers and daughters. 7 Matricide and the mother-daughter relationship. 8 The father-daughter romance. 9 Beauty and the beast: the father-daughter relationship. 19 Aggression and femininity. 11 Two women in the consulting-room. 12 The search for an alternative space

'...a far-reaching and devastating critique of masculinity, femininity, and contemporary culture....demonstrates how the Western psyche is based upon denial of the power of the mother, and the elevation of the father into a repressive, authoritarian figure. This act of universal matricide has wrought havoc throughout Western culture. As Wieland graphically illustrates, both women and men are denied the opportunity to mourn their separation from mother, but must contend instead with the guilt that surrounds her murder, and the ever-present terror of her vengeful return--as "the undead mother"....the author re-visits a wide and fascinating range of myths, fairytales and stories."'

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