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.It is true, ofcourse, that the culturally developed formulations of these wondershave required in many cases centuries, even millenniums, tocomplete.But it is true also (and this, I believe, is what thepresent review is showing) that there is a point of support forthe reception of such images in the déjà vu of the partially self-shaped and self-shaping mind.In other words, whereas in the* Supra, p.43. 76 PRI MI TI VE MYTHOLOGYanimal world the "isomorphs," or inherited stereotypes of thecentral nervous structure, which for the most part match thenatural environment, may occasionally contain possibilities ofresponse unmatched by nature, the world of man, which is nowlargely the product of our own artifice, represents to a consider-able extent, at least an opposite order of dynamics; namely, thatof a living nervous structure and controlled response systemfashioning its habitat, and not vice versa; but fashioning it notalways consciously, by any means; indeed, for the most part, orat least for a very considerable part, fashioning it impetuously, outof its own self-produced images of rage and fear,A fifth and culminating syndrome of imprints of this kind, mixedof outer and inner impacts, is that of the long and variously arguedOedipus complex, which, according to the orthodox Freudianschool, is normally established in the growing child at the age ofabout five or six, and thereafter constitutes the primary constel-lating pattern of all impulse, thought and feeling, imaginative art,philosophy, mythology and religion, scientific research, sanity andmadness.The claim for the universality of this complex has beenvigorously challenged by a number of anthropologists; for example,Bronislaw Malinowski, who, in his work on Sex and Repression inSavage Society declares, "The crux of the difficulty lies in the factthat to psychoanalysts the Oedipus complex is something absolute,the primordial source.the fons et origo of everything.I cannot conceive of the complex as the unique source of culture,of organization and belief," he goes on then to say; "as the meta-physical entity, creative, but not created, prior to all things and notcaused by anything else." 30 Géza Róheim, on the other hand,replied in defense of Freud in a strong rebuttal,31 to which, as far asI know, there has been no response.However, since our problemfor the present is not that of the ultimate force or extent in timeand space of this imprint, but that simply of the possibility of itsderivation from infantile experience, we may say that whether it isquite as universal as strict Freudians believe, or significantlymodified in force and character according to the sociology of thetribe or family in question, the fact remains that at about the age of THE IMPRINTS OF EXPERI ENCE 77five or six the youngster becomes implicated imaginatively (in ourculture world, at least) in a ridiculous tragi-comedy that we mayterm "the family romance."In its classical Freudian structuring, this Oedipal romanceconsists in the more or less unconscious wish of the boy toeliminate his father (Jack-the-Giant-Killer motif) and be alonewith his mother; but with a correlative fear, which is also more orless unconscious, of a punishing castration by the father.And sohere, at last, the imprint of the Father has entered the psychologicalpicture of the growing child in the way of a dangerous ogre.AsRóheim represents the case in his study of the psychology ofprimitive warfare, the father is the first enemy, and every enemyis symbolic of the father;32 indeed, "whatever is killed becomesfather." 33 Hence certain aspects of the headhunting rites, to whichwe shall presently be turning; hence, too, the rites of the paleolithichunters in connection with the killing and eating of their totembeasts.For the girl, the corresponding Freudian formula is that of thelegend of Electra.She is her mother's rival for the father's love,living in fear that the ogress may kill him and draw herself backinto the web of the nightmare of that presexual cannibal feast(formerly paradise!) of the bambino and madonna.For timeshave changed, and it is now the little girl herself who is to play themadonna to a brood of dolls.Since the following chapters furnish abundant instances of thisromance of a Lilliputian and two giants, we need not pause todocument it here, but observe, simply, that one example has alreadybeen supplied in the episode of Killer-of-Enemies (the boy hero),Kicking Monster (the father-ogre), and the Four Vagina Girls(who are dangerous in the father's service but susceptible ofdomestication).Four is a ritual number in American Indian lore,referring to the four directions of the universe, and appears in thisstory because the figures have no personal, or historical, but rathera cosmic mythological reference.The girls are personifications ofan aspect of the mystery of life.And so, finally, to conclude this brief sketch of the Freudiannotion of the family romance and its variations, the reaction of the 78 PRI MI TI VE MYTHOLOGYvery young male who vaguely senses that his mother is a temptress,seducing his imagination to incest and parricide, may be to hide hisfeelings from his own thoughts by assuming the compensatory,negative attitude of a Hamlet a mental posture of excessive sub-mission to the jurisdiction of the father (atonement theme), to-gethc with a fierce rejection of the female and all the associatedcharms of the world (the fleshpots of Egypt, whore of Babylon,etc
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