Oedipal Ur-dom

Daniel Horowitz, Totem & Taboo Exhibition

Slavoj Žižek, "The myth of Oedipus and the myth of Erbaba" (translated)

The legend of Oedipus and the legend of Erbaba (Totem and Taboo: Urvater ) are generally thought of as two versions of the same legend, as if the legend of Oedipus is the base that expresses the subject's ontogenesis (individuation), and the legend of Erbaba is like the reflection of that base in the prehistoric past as phylogeny.

But if you look closely, it can be seen that there is a deep asymmetry and even contradiction between the two legends.

According to the premise of the Oedipus myth, the father is the forbidding agent and prevents us from attaining arbitrariness (i.e. incest, sexual intercourse with the mother). It is implied that if we kill the father, this obstacle will be lifted and we will finally enjoy the forbidden object.

The legend of Erbaba is almost the opposite of this: If we kill Erbaba, the obstacle will not be lifted, we will not finally reach arbitrariness. On the contrary, we see that the dead father is stronger than the living father. The murdered Erbaba later dominates us in the person of the Name of the Father (Nam-ı Pir, Nah-ı Pir), and he enacts the symbolic law that no longer allows us to reach the forbidden fruit of arbitrariness.

Why is this duplication necessary?

In the Oedipus myth, the prohibition of arbitrariness still functions as an impediment from the outside, thus leaving open the possibility that we could have full enjoyment if there were no obstacles. However, quality is already impossible in itself. One of the clichés of Lacanian theory is that the speaking being is always without access to arbitrariness. The father figure saves us from this dead end by transforming this immanent impossibility into a symbolic prohibition.

The legend of Erbaba in Totem and Taboo, on the other hand, completes the legend of Oedipus by embodying this impossible circumstance in the figure of the shameful Arbitrary-Father, who plays the role of the prohibiting perpetrator, or rather, it is added to the legend of Oedipus. The illusion here is that at least one subject (Erbaba, the owner of all women) can enjoy complete pleasure; whereas this Arbitrary-Father figure is nothing more than a neurotic phantasy, ignoring the fact that the father was dead from the very beginning: the father has never been alive, at best he may not have yet realized that he is already dead.

Notes:
From Trapezoid Bakmak

English: Işık Barış Fidaner

See “Father's Name, Father's Benevolence: Nam-ı Pir, Nah-ı Pir” , “Lion Hunt and the Killing of Erbaba” , “Er eren er: Erbaba” Jacques Lacan

Aisthetikos"

• According to 2 sources

Aesthetics is derived from the Greek word " aisthetikos" defined as a perception of the senses. In aesthetics, there is a process of individual analysis, perception and imagination. Perception is defined as an individual's neurophysiological process of awareness and interpreting external stimuli.