narcissisms
denis jonnes (djengltl@mbox.nc.kyushu-u.ac.jp)
Mon, 05 Apr 1999 15:32:37 +0900
Having never taken a psych course, but with much interest in question of
"narcissism"--especially in larger cultural contexts ("The Culture of
Narcissism," "the me-generation," etc.), am wondering to what extent the
psychiatrists' manual allows for such factors. Am also wondering about
connection between trauma--which seems in various ways to force self
back on itself at most basic levels (will I live? am I still "me"?)--and
narcissism. These are questions I feel relevant to reading and
understanding Salinger, especially in light of his wartime experience
(D-day, Hurtgen Forest) and subsequent reclusiveness. On layman basis,
I see a spectrum of narcissims, ranging from Emersonian/Whitmanian
inclusiveness--everything I see and know is somehow encompassed by
ever-outwardly expanding self--, to self-encapsulated self, which
excludes more and more, in effort to protect whatever remains of
"self." On the whole, I see Salinger occupying the latter end of the
spectrum--but in this sense only reflecting broader tendencies within
the culture post-Second World War.
And with apologies for my ignorance, what does "DSM-IV" stand for?
Denis Jonnes