Dirty Words

Plot

Taboo words are the subject of this book. Extending Freud's study, the author traces the psychic origins of dirty words to early infancy and childhood and their place and value in life and analytic therapy. He also provides a journey through universal literature - the rich variety of "dirty" words used by Rabelais, Quevado, Mozart, Voltaire, the Marquis de Sade, Joyce, and Lawrence. Dirty words are "dirty" because they are obscene. They name without hypocrisy, euphemism, or modesty what should never be mentioned in public - parts of the adult body, secretions of sexual behaviour patterns. The author argues that obscene words have a great capacity for summoning emotions and that if we do not use them, we will not fully experience our sexual nature. He concludes that for the preservation of a healthy society, dirty words must have a legitimate place in our daily life.