A Country Struggles with the Return of the Wolf
Claire Berlinski, Ed. ·
Sep 26, 2011 at 3:49am
Oh, oh, oh--for anyone who doubts Freud's insight.
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Jul '10
Re: A Country Struggles with the Return of the Wolf
You mean, the Wolfman analysis? The "primal scene"? Psychosexual development?
But these wolves seem to be real. (Or should that be "real"?)
Mar '11
Re: A Country Struggles with the Return of the Wolf
That's the first thing I thought too, Robert, but there is guy in the story named Freud that could probably use a little analysis.
Or at least someone to keep tabs on him.
Or maybe Claire is saying that the wolf is at Germany's door.
Or something.
Re: A Country Struggles with the Return of the Wolf
This reminds me that I used to have recurring nightmares about the Ku Klux Klan. I was absolutely terrified of them as an adolescent. My best friend had similar recurring nightmares about wolves. But since I'm white and she's black, she wondered whether we should consider swapping our worst nightmares.
Sep '11
Re: A Country Struggles with the Return of the Wolf
There's a story here that has nothing to do with Freud or childhood fantasies--wolves and other predators are reclaiming habitat that is being abandoned as rural populations in the U.S. decline.
My wife grew up on a farm in southwest Georgia; as a child, there were three or four families within walking distance, and a dozen families "nearby." My mother-in-law now lives on that farm alone, with the closest neighbor more than two miles away. What had been farmland in the 1970s has all been planted with trees (U.S.D.A. soil conservation program), and animals not seen in a century have returned.
Including at least one wolf, and something like a bobcat.
I saw the bobcat (whatever species it was); my brother-in-law ran into the wolf, who's running a pack of feral dogs. By common consent, nobody goes into the lower fields anymore without weapons.
This isn't just Georgia--there have been wildcat attacks in Colorado and California, and bear in several other states.
Prediction: this won't become an issue until a New York Times reporter is eaten by a wildcat in Dutchess County, New York.
Apr '11
Re: A Country Struggles with the Return of the Wolf
In these circumstances, we should turn to M.F.K. Fisher for her sage advice (pun intended). Things were far worse when she wrote this book:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Wolf-M-Fisher/dp/0865473366/
Bon appetit!
Apr '11
Re: A Country Struggles with the Return of the Wolf
As I've said before, wolves are natural-born conservatives: they have strong family values, they believe in competition and cooperation, and they kill the weak to feed their young.
However, that bit about wolves never attacking people is true for North America. Up through the Middle Ages, until the wolves were exterminated, people had good reason to fear wolves. However, today's surviving and expanding European lupine populations have probably long since taken homo sapiens off the menu. Small children are more at risk from feral dogs, which are not afraid of humans.