The Death Drive [Todestriebe]

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

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Concept (psychoanalysis)

Dates

Date of occurrence 1920

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In his essay “Jenseits des Lustprinzips” [“Beyond the Pleasure Principle”, 1920] Freud revises the general presumption of his early theory that humans are motivated by the desire to minimise unpleasure and maximise pleasure. He now suggests that the pursuit of pleasure often involves unpleasurable aspects which are integral to the achievement of an eventual bliss. Examples here would be long-distance running and other extreme sports, or the pain of romantic love. The earlier concept of

Lebenstriebe

[life drive] is now seen to exist in an antithesis with

Todestriebe

[death drive]. Freud’s followers will sometimes term this opposition in Greek terms as

eros

opposed by

thanatos

, although the latter term is not used by Freud.

English literature offers a highly charged poetic

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512 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "The Death Drive [Todestriebe]". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 October 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=297, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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