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Sex and religion : two texts of early feminist psychoanalysis

Drei Breife an einen Knaben (Three Letters to a Young Boy) and Der Teufel und Seine Grossmutter (The Devil & His Grandmother) are texts that explore sexuality across the lifespan with some unexpected twists and turns. The Devil & His Grandmother treats the collision of sexuality and religion, and therefore religious education indirectly. The Three Letters was originally authored in 1912 with two letters addressed to Helene Klinenberg's son and a third added in 1913. The Three Letters were edited, appended and finally published in 1917 by Kurt Wolff's Verlag in Leipzig. --As a psychoanalyst and author, Lou Andreas-Salome traverses the mystery of sexuality in much of her work. This book, comprised of two texts originally written for adolescents, uniquely explores sexual education and the collision of sexuality and religion across the lifespan. The first piece, "Three Letters to a Young Boy" (1917), is a psychoanalytic fairy tale. The letters offer an interesting version of the evolution of sexual knowledge from childhood through adolescence. The second piece, "The Devil & His Grandmother" (1922), merges sexuality with religion, encapsulating three ages of woman-child, to a lost soul and the Devil's bride, to the Devil's Grandmother. Written in charmingly convoluted dialogue, this work has a cinematic, fanciful feel. Both pieces dispense with academic formality and point to a relaxed new phase in Salome's writing life. Interestingly, this tone can also be detected in her blossoming correspondence with Sigmund Freud, which contrasts starkly with her somber letters to Rainer Maria Rilke. It is with the spirit of free thinking demonstrated in these two selections, perhaps informed by Salome's experimentation with free association, that the reader is transported to a new theatre of Salome's imagination.

Fenitschka ; and, Deviations : two novellas

Fenitschka ; Eine Ausschweifung : zwei Erzählungen