Mediation Matters: Archetypes of Transference

This interdisciplinary article examines how cultural archetypes reflect the universal human desire to heal the trauma of the Fall. These archetypes are explored here as they appear in politics, aesthetic philosophy, literature (particularly drama), opera, and religion. The main archetypes examined are those of the “gap” (the abyss between natural and spiritual man opened at the Fall) and the “bridge” (the means by which man attempts to span this “gap”). The central focus is on Western philosophy and literary and opera narrative.