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Forbidden Partners : The Incest Taboo in Modern Culture
FORBIDDEN PARTNERS THE INCEST TABO IN MODERN CULTURE JAMES B. TWITCHELL PAPERBACK 311 PAGES COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1987
311 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 1986
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About the author
James B. Twitchell
28 books7 followersJames B. Twitchell is an American author and former professor of English, known for his work on advertising, consumer culture, and popular media. He earned his BA, MA, and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A tenured professor at the University of Florida, Twitchell resigned in 2008 following allegations of plagiarism. Despite this, he remains recognized for his engaging writing style and provocative insights into American cultural and consumer behavior.
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March 3, 2021
I won’t make this a long review. I have learned enough from this book to predict that a great many of you won't want to hear about the topic and still less of you will want to consider it long enough to glean any insights about humanity from the study of it.
As for the book. It showed me that this subject is woven into our culture at a far tighter weave than I had previously registered. Once you do see its outline, it becomes very easy to see it everywhere. Although I do feel that, like sexism and other things, if one were to leave the glasses on a little too long you do run the risk of becoming myopic about it.
The book charts the taboo from mythology to folk stories, through ballads and into the novel and beyond. It seems that, as a species, we have always turned from looking at the topic head-on. It is a stain on our society, one that is often welcomed eagerly - so long as it keeps its distance from our individual lives. We are content to let it feed the books our young people consume. We are eager to hear stories of backwards people doing backwards things in backwards places. Even the online culture is riddled with suggestive “what are you doing step-ladder?” jokes (owing to a huge but unfortunate proliferation in search requests on the more adult zones of the internet) Look any deeper into the topic and it becomes a quickly horrifying and far less humorous aspect of human culture.
It seems that the very dawn of popular culture is saturated by the spectre of it. From vampires to lolita. Almost all of our stories for young people offer some example or other of the improper older figure bent on despoiling some young innocent and leaving them dissolute. And whilst salvation rides in (age appropriate and from outside the social circle) to save the day, it doesn't always manage to, and therein lies the warning.
I finished the book with a far deeper understanding of taboo and for that alone, I think that I’m exceedingly pleased to have read it.
As for the book. It showed me that this subject is woven into our culture at a far tighter weave than I had previously registered. Once you do see its outline, it becomes very easy to see it everywhere. Although I do feel that, like sexism and other things, if one were to leave the glasses on a little too long you do run the risk of becoming myopic about it.
The book charts the taboo from mythology to folk stories, through ballads and into the novel and beyond. It seems that, as a species, we have always turned from looking at the topic head-on. It is a stain on our society, one that is often welcomed eagerly - so long as it keeps its distance from our individual lives. We are content to let it feed the books our young people consume. We are eager to hear stories of backwards people doing backwards things in backwards places. Even the online culture is riddled with suggestive “what are you doing step-ladder?” jokes (owing to a huge but unfortunate proliferation in search requests on the more adult zones of the internet) Look any deeper into the topic and it becomes a quickly horrifying and far less humorous aspect of human culture.
It seems that the very dawn of popular culture is saturated by the spectre of it. From vampires to lolita. Almost all of our stories for young people offer some example or other of the improper older figure bent on despoiling some young innocent and leaving them dissolute. And whilst salvation rides in (age appropriate and from outside the social circle) to save the day, it doesn't always manage to, and therein lies the warning.
I finished the book with a far deeper understanding of taboo and for that alone, I think that I’m exceedingly pleased to have read it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review