Gambling, game, and psyche / Bettina L. Knapp.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Knapp, Bettina Liebowitz, 1926-2010.

Series:

SUNY series in psychoanalysis and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gambling in literature.

Literature, Modern--19th century--History and criticism.

Literature, Modern.

Literature, Modern--20th century--History and criticism.

Gambling--Psychological aspects.

Gambling.

Physical Description:

viii, 308 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2000]

Summary:

Bettina Knapp adds a new spin on the study of gambling as she explores both sides of the coin--the rush and thrill of risk taking versus the depression and defeat of losing. In a unique Jungian approach, Knapp probes the universal and eternal mysteries that lady luck herself offers to humanity's never-ending quest to defy destiny.

While games of chance and of skill have held universal appeal throughout the ages, here Knapp adds a new dimension by exploring the psyches and the cultures of their players. In each of the book's nine chapters, she examines a different type of gambling as evidenced in Western and Eastern tradition through the literary works of Aleichem, Balzac, Dostoevsky, Hesse, Kawabata, Pascal, Poe, Serao, and Zhang. This scrutiny shows both the diversity and universality of each culture as she takes the literary works out of their individual contexts and relates them to humankind in general. Through an examination of seven different cultures--American, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Russian--she shows the effects of gambling on individuals and groups of players as well as its impact on the family and society.

Contents:

ch. 1. Pascal: a geometer's wager with God

ch. 2. Balzac: The wild ass's skin: the gambler's quest for power

ch. 3. Poe: "William Wilson": gambler? wastrel? reprobate?

ch. 4. Dostoevsky's flayed gambler

ch. 5. Serao's Naples: smorfia mania and the devouring father

ch. 6. Sholom Aleichem: "The lottery ticket": a human gamble

ch. 7. Hesse's The glass bead game: computerized culture

ch. 8. Kawabata's The master of go: game as ritual of exile

ch. 9. Zhang Xinxin's Orchid madness.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-298) and index.

ISBN:

0791443833

0791443841

OCLC:

40595292