Citation

Bókay A. Psychiatr. Hung. 2019; 34(2): 98-112.

Affiliation

Pecsi Tudomanyegyetem Modern Irodalomtorteneti Tanszek es Pszichoanalizis Doktori Program, Pecs, Hungary, E-mail: bokay.antal@pte.hu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Magyar Pszichiatriai Tarsasag)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

31417001

Abstract

The two poets, an American Sylvia Plath and a Hungarian, Attila József were separated by a quarter of century of time, they lived and worked in different spaces, cultures, but both created in their poetry a radically new style of self-expression, called confessional poetry. The "Belated Lament" of Attila József was written in 1936, and in the following year its author - after repeated earlier attempts - committed suicide. The "Daddy" of Sylvia Plath was written in 1962. She, again, after several attempts, killed herself the following year. They both talk about the powerful effect of the disruptive effect of unresolved Oedipal memories, both are deeply concerned with mourning of the Oedipal other a father and a mother (who died several decades before), and they also construct the death of their own. They both present themselves as an unsuccessful Oedipus and articulate a disturbing and disruptive arrival to Kolonos.

Language: hu