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PARTISAN REVIEW
to the timeless world of the p rimiti ve ego, buri ed in the o ldest layers o f
the mind and illumin a ted during the in stant o f the aura like a dar k
landscape in a fl as h o f li ghtning .
T he moment of th e aura is virtua ll y the onl y poi nt in
T he Idiot
a t
which in stinctua l impul ses brea k thro ugh the barri ers of repress ion
with suffi cient fo rce
to
be felt as pl easura bl e and gratifyin g. At thi s
point the sexual and aggress ive feelin gs usua ll y experi enced by Mysh–
kin in the di sgui sed masochi sti c [o rin of sufferin g rush into the ego
with an effect of ecs tati c and joyful release. But the ego canno t to lera te
th e fo rce o f these energ ies in th eir or ig ina l fo rm , nor can it a ll ow the
ideas attached
to
them-the wishes towa rds th e fa ther cont a in ed in the
prima l scene fantasy-to ri se into conscious awareness. T he momen t of
o rgias ti c release is fo ll owed by th e to ta l eclipse of th e ego in th e
epilep ti c seizure. The fit is a lso the revenge o f the su perego, whi ch can
be deposed onl y tempo raril y; fo r th e release of sexua l and aggress ive
energy it exacts the ta li on pena lty of symbo li c cas tra ti on and dea th .
T he in stin ctua l drives are once more experi enced under the nega ti ve
sign o f superego, in th e fo rm of asceti cism and sufferin g.
T he epil ep ti c scenes arc th e po ints in the novel a t whi ch experi ence
reaches its hi ghes t intensity; these ep isodes are in a sense the p ro to types
of the emo ti onal experi ence of
The Idio t.
In the grea t scenes of
climacti c emo ti on o r vio lent confronta ti on , th e reader is led to pa rti ci–
pa te in a kind of loss of control: th e ego of the pro tagoni st, under the
assault o f repressed impul ses, gives way to energies and fantas ies
usuall y in accessibl e to it and undergoes an eno rmous expansion o f its
capacity fo r perception and fee ling. But thi s momenta ry expan sion
also exposes it to the possibility of annihil a ti on thro ugh the savage
force of id energies and th e reta li a ti on of superego. T h e result is the
coll apse of the ego in freflZY, loss of consciousness, o r epil epti c con vul –
SIOns.
T hi s characteri sti c mode o f emo ti ona l response is wha t mi gh t be
call ed the "epil epti c pa ttern " in the nove l. Its pos iti ve va lue is in one
sense eno rmou s: at its mos t acute, in the aura, it con stitutes th e cla im
for the " mysti cal" qua lity of Myshkin 's insight and of hi s person a lit y.
These moments of heightened consciousness represent a brea kth rough
beyond the barri ers of repression th a t define th e no rma l conditi ons of
the ego into a sta te in whi ch the da rker regions of persona lit y are
illumina ted and the sense of exi stence is immeasura bl y intensifi ed. In
such sta tes the conscious mind appears
to
be o ffered th e poss ibility of
penetra ting a limitless rea lity. T he conditi on of thi s fin a l kn ow ledge
is, o f course, annihil ati on . T hi s is the ambi guity and the fund amen ta l
pa radox of the moments of grea tes t intensit y in the novel: the most
