The Incest – One of the Inclinations that the World Hasn't Finished Dreaming Yet
The Incest – One of the Inclinations that the World Hasn't Finished Dreaming Yet

Summary/Abstract: When we think about the secrets and taboos which, without regard to the temporal distances, perpetually astound us, we, involved in the inner dialogue with ourselves and the world, ask ourselves whether the interpretation of the myths – traces left in time – have stopped being a challenge for us? The topic that this essay deals with will probably raise controversial thoughts. That is so, without doubt, because out of all forms of love in a contemporary and civilized society, it is perhaps only the incestuous one that raises adverse feelings, so it is no wander that many refuse to talk about it. Understood as one of the most characteristic categories of wrongdoing, it can easily cause abuse of the authority of the speaker, but when we deal with the corpus of literary works from the world and European artistic production that tackle this phenomenon, we must admit that we are faced with fascinating aesthetic achievements. It is enough to remind ourselves of the associations awoken by the great tragedy of the myth of Oedipus, or the biblical myth of Lot and his daughters, and it will became apparent that without regard to the manner in which this eccentric phenomenon has been treated in the literary tradition, for many authors it has grown into an unavoidable literary inspiration. This is what the passionate investigator of the myths of love, Denis de Rougemont, has to say with regard to this: "When we get to know the myths that tempt us better, when we discover where their logic comes from, and where it leads, we will probably be prepared, on our own risk, to responsibly accept the love, and to turn towards ourselves. Maybe we will be free to do something even more than that."

• Details
• Contents