At Home in the World. A Study in Psychoanalysis, Religion, and Art 12+

🔖 Synopsis:The emotional separation of boys from their mothers in early childhood enables them to connect with their fathers and their fathers' world. But this separation also produces a melancholic reaction of sadness and sense of loss. Certain religious sensibilities develop out of this melancholic reaction, including a sense of honor, a sense of hope, and a sense of humor. Realizing that they cannot return to their original maternal environment, men, whether knowingly or not, embark on a lifelong search for a sense of being at home in the world. At Home in the World focuses on works of art as a means to explore the formation and continuing expression of men's melancholy selves and their religious sensibilities. These explorations include such topics as male viewers' mixed feelings toward the maternal figure, physical settings that offer alternatives to the maternal environment, and the maternal resonances of the world of nature. By presenting images of the natural world as the locus of peace and contentment, At Home in the World especially reflects of the religious sensibility of hope.Endorsement:"Blending art, historical, and gender sensibilities with psycho-biographic explorations, Capps invites his readers to be attentive to the subtle display of male loss and longings in iconic works of art. The joy of discovery is in no small manner a result of his eloquent writing style, which proceeds at a contemplative pace while imbued with the sharpness of psychoana...