Seminar 2024/25: Œdipus reloaded

The 2024/5 training and research programme will focus on the theme of Oedipus, the subject of an in-depth theoretical examination not only of aspects relating to the myth, but also to the psychoanalytic conception of the complex in its ethno-anthropological, clinical, ethical and cultural implications in general.
The consideration of myth by Greekists, anthropologists, and philosophers will be explored in depth, each time showing points of commonality or discrepancy with respect to the Freudian conception.

The seminar is open to the public and consists of a course of 16 lectures on a fortnightly basis to be held on Saturday mornings at 10.30 a.m. at the premises of the School of Freudian Psychoanalysis (via Lentasio 7, Milan).

This topic will also be dealt with within the study group (open to SPF members) on the Fundamentals of Freud’s Work, the latter having the aim of gaining a thorough understanding of Freud’s thought through the integral reading of reference texts.

The seminar distinguishes two fundamental thematic macroblocks, which will intersect in the development of the course:

• the Oedipus myth: in this macroblock the Oedipus myth will be analysed in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the interpretation
• the Oedipus complex: in this second macroblock, the Oedipus complex as a psychoanalytical concept and the various criticisms that have been made will be analysed.

With respect to the second macroblock, here are some of the points that will be made:

• The Oedipus myth in Freudian theory
• Theoretical meaning of the Oedipus complex and clinical implications
• Criticisms of the Freudian interpretation by some anthropologists and ethnologists (Vernant, Lévi-Strauss, Malinowski, Girard, Geza Roheim) and their respective responses

• mastering Freudian Oedipus theory;
• distinguish the two blocks in the development of the Oedipus problem;
• know the critical arguments against theories in opposition to the Freudian theory.

• Sofocle, Edipo re, commento Condello
• Sofocle, Edipo a Colono
• Freud, S.,  Totem e tabù
• Freud, S., Il tabù della verginità
• Freud, S., Psicologia delle masse e analisi dell’Io
• Freud, S., Il tramonto del complesso edipico
• Freud, S., Il disagio nella civiltà
• Freud, S., L’uomo Mosé e la religione monoteistica
• Bidou, P., Le mythe de Tapir Chamane. Essai d’anthropologie psychanalytique
• Del Court, M. (1981), Œdipe ou la legend du conquérant, Société d’Édition des Belles Lettres, Paris. (Originariamente pubblicato nel 1944). Contiene Stein, C., «Œdipe Roi» selon Freud.
• Girard, R., La violenza e il sacro
• Girard, R., Edipo liberato
• Kerényi, K., Variazioni sull’Edipo
• Kluckhohn, C., Kroeber, A.L., Il concetto di cultura [critiche a Roheim]
• Lévi-Strauss, C., Antropologia strutturale
• Lévi-Strauss, C., Le strutture elementari della parentela
• Malinowski, La vita sessuale dei selvaggi
• Paduano, G., Edipo: storia di un mito
• Roheim, G., Origine e funzione della cultura
• Roheim, G., Psicoanalisi e antropologia
• Vernant, J.-P., (1976). «Edipo senza complesso», in Mito e tragedia nell’antica Grecia, Trad. M. Rettori, Einaudi, Torino. (Originariamente pubblicato nel 1972).
• Vian, F., Les origines de Thèbes. Cadmos et les Spartes