I was hoping someone would elucidate the etymology at stake in the choice
between skepto and skopto, and the references to Latin elegy very nicely
illuminate Spenser's prostrate erotic spies. This is wonderful; thanks.
As for Lewis's knowledge of Freud, Ken Gross suggested to me yesterday in a
phone conversation that Lewis may not only have been reading Freud, but also
conversing with one or another analyst at Cambridge. The technical (or
pseudo-technical) vocabulary of the discourse was not entirely fixed in the
thirties, whether we speak of German, French, or English. It's intriguing
to learn that, for a while at least, Freud thought about introducing the
term "destrudo" as an antonym to "libido"; the early history of
psychoanalysis must be strewn with similar variant and discarded coinages,
and Lewis, writing in the 30s, may simply have been repeating a variant
spelling of "scoptophilia," or even transcribing in his own way a term he'd
only heard.
And speaking of transcribing what one has only heard in the course of
conversation, I hope I got the details of Gross's information right . . .
_____
David Lee Miller
Department of English 543 Boonesboro Ave
University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40508
Lexington, KY 40506-0027 (859) 252-3680
(859) 257-6965
FAX 323-1072
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