Americanization of the Ego

The Canadian Review of American Studies, Volume IO, Number I, Spring, 1979 Americanization of the Ego PaulRoazen. Erik H. Erikson: The Power and Limits .perience(New York, 1977), since it repeats and expands arguments made in his 1966 "Ontogeny of Ritualization" which I intend to discuss fully in a future essay. ,:Roazen,"Erikson's America," p. 11; Erik Erikson, pp. 47-48. 11Erik H Erikson, Young Man Luther, A Study of Psychoanalysis and History (New York, 1958). For Erikson's fullest discussion of this see his essay, "On Psychohistorical Evidence," m Life Htswn·and the Historical Moment (New York, 1975), pp. 114-68. 1iErikH. Erikson, "Autobiographic Notes on the Identity Crisis," Daedelus, 99 (Fall, 1970), repnnted in L(fe History, pp. 17-47. PEnkson,L(fe History, p. 27. In an interchange between Erikson and Huey P. Newton, which I will discusslater in this essay, Erikson interrupted Newton's explanation of his (Newton's) decision to becomea radical activist and made the following curious slip: "But Why? "That's the point. There musthave been something in your background, in your choice oj parents, m the place you grew up, which made you independent." Kai T. Erikson, ed., In Search of Common Ground: ConversatwnsBetween Erik H. Erikson and Huey P. Newton (New York, 1973), p. 131 (emphasis mme) 4Enkson, L(fe History, p. 27. Erikson constantly refers to himself as Danish. For instance, m a shortbiographical note on contributors to his collection of essays The Challenge qf Youth (1963), Erik~onnotes that he was "born in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1902, of Danish parentage." None of the otherthirteen contributors lists his national origin. See Erik H. Erikson, ed., The Challenge of Youth(New York, 1963), p. 339. 1 1 En~son'sJewish origins were first discussed by Marshall Berman in The New York Times Boot.. Review,March 30, 1975, p. 22; also see Roazcn, Erik Erikson, pp. 94-97. ''Seefor instance, faik H. Erikson, "A Neurological Crisis in a Small Boy: Sam," in Childhood and Society,pp. 25-38. "Freud'sdiscussion ofrepetition-compulsion appears in many places in his writings. See especially, The.Ve1v Introductory Lectures (1933), Norton edition (New York, 1961), pp. 106-08. 'GezaRoheim, The Origin and Function of Culture (New York, 1943), pp. l-19. ...