Oh, Freud.
In the beginning of “Chapter 5,” you write, “Novelty is always the necessary condition of enjoyment” (43). But, I keep finding myself getting tripped up by what you are implying here–maybe it is this notion of “novelty”, maybe “necessary” is the word I take issue with. I am reading Beyond the Pleasure Principle for easily the tenth time, and yet I am enjoying it just as much as the first time, perhaps even as much as the eighth time. So, how could novelty really be “the necessary condition of enjoyment?” It seems like you draw a connection between “instinct” and the way the “compulsion to repeat” causes humans to continue to follow their instinctual drive to repeat something repressed or somehow connected to past trauma–does this then mean that every time an act is repeated it becomes novel and new?
How can an instinct be “conservative?”
It seems like Freud has 4 main points or links or symptoms he thinks the “compulsion to repeat” comes out of: nightmares, children’s play (fort da), therapy/delving into a past repressed, and anxieties about the future. But that still leaves out a lot of human experiences that are repeated yet still novel.
Am I being too literal minded? And, seriously Freud, what about music–isn’t the whole point of a chorus to repeat? Don’t we like songs because their lyrics are repeated and stick with us?
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How many times does Kanye use the word “Power” here? How many times do we see his face? How many times do we hear the song on tv–either on awards shows, SNL, or now commercials. But, I still love the song–it makes me feel “happy” for the 5 or so minutes I can listen.
