A lively history of the meaning, function, and act of castration from its place in the early church to its secular reinvention in the Renaissance, as a spiritualized form of masculinity to its 20th century position at the core of psychoanalysis.
A unique and cutting edge look at the West's fascination with, and misunderstanding of castrated males, taking in the sweep of Western thought on 'the operation'.
"Published in the U.S.A. in 1985 under the title To analyze delight"--T.p. verso.