Edith Wharton’s Threshold Phobia and Two Worlds

The American novelist Edith Wharton suffered an unusual childhood neurotic symptom, a fear of crossing thresholds, a condition that might be called a “threshold phobia.” This symptom is identified and examined in autobiographical material, letters, diaries, and selected literary fiction and nonfiction left by Wharton to arrive at a formulation not previously drawn together. A fascinating theme—living or being trapped between “two worlds”—runs through much of the writer’s life and work. The phobia is related to this theme, and both can be linked more broadly to certain sexual conflicts in women. This understanding of Wharton’s phobia, it is argued, throws new light on the developmental issues and conflicts related to the female “oedipal” or triadic phase, characterized by the need to negotiate the two worlds of mother and of father

Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · American and British Literature Analysis · American Literature and Culture · Philosophy · Poetry Analysis and Criticism · Psychology

• The Reproduction of Mothering

  Nancy J Chodorow, Nancy Chodorow et al.•Reproduction of Mothering•1978

  Añadir item

• Father's seduction of daughter entices her into the Oedipal phase

  Ruth F Lax•Psychoanalytic Psychology•2007

  Añadir item

• A Feast of Words

  Cynthia B Taft, Cynthia Griffin Wolff•American Literature•1978

  Añadir item

• A Woman’s Homosexual Transference with a Male Analyst

  Sheldon Roth, Sheldon H Roth•The Psychoanalytic Quarterly•1988

  Añadir item

• Female exhibitionism

  Open Access•Deanna Holtzman, Nancy Kulish•The International Journal of…•2012

  Añadir item

• Integrating Male and Female Elements in a Woman's gEnder Identity

  Open Access•Rosemary Balsam, Rosemary H Balsam•Journal of the American…•2001

  Añadir item

• Sex and Shame

  Open Access•Dianne Elise•Journal of the American…•2008

  Añadir item

• Where Do We Fall When We Fall In Love

  Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Elisabeth Young‐bruehl•Psychoanalysis Culture & Society•2003

  Añadir item

• Sadomasochism, Sexual Excitement, and Perversion

  Open Access•Otto F Kernberg•Journal of the American…•1991

  Añadir item

• Female Sexuality

  Pamela H Pearson, J Chasseguet-Smirgel et al.•Journal of Marriage and the Family•1971

  Añadir item