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D ostoevsky and F reud: Autonomy and Addiction in Gambling
Author(s) -
Kingma Sytze F.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/johs.12086
Subject(s) - roulette , addiction , passion , psychology , social psychology , psychoanalysis , autonomy , gambling disorder , psychiatry , political science , geometry , mathematics , law
In this paper the modern ideal of “autonomous” or “pure” gambling is put forward in an analysis of D ostoevsky's gambling behavior, his novel The Gambler (1866) and F reud's psychoanalysis of D ostoevsky. The significance of The Gambler lies in the way conceptions of gambling are related to the social conditions of gamblers. Furthermore, the author demonstrates that D ostoevsky and F reud express contradictory views on gambling addiction. While D ostoevsky primarily appreciated roulette as a means of making money, F reud mistakenly interpreted this as a “pathological passion”. In different ways, however, both approaches toward excessive gambling presuppose and reinforce “gambling‐for‐its‐own‐sake” – Le jeu pour le jeu .