Hurts so good: Masochism in Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children

Authors

  • Theresa Holtby

Keywords:

Christina Stead, masochism

Abstract

This essay explores the possibility that Christina Stead's character, Sam Pollit of The Man Who Loved Children, though displaying many apparently masochistic behaviours and characteristics, is a counterexample to Freud's moral masochist. It employs and compares Freud's and Deleuze's theories of masochism in the context of analysing Sam Pollit's characterisation and the effects of his masochism on his female partner.

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Issue

Vol. 14 No. 5 (2014): The Nation or the Globe?: Australian Literature and/in the World

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

Hurts so good: Masochism in Christina Stead’s The Man Who Loved Children. (2015). Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 14(5). https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/JASAL/article/view/10012