Psychoanalysis, like all pagan scientia, says: “Come, my good man, no wonder you feel guilty. You have a distorting mirror, and that is indeed a very wicked thing to have. But cheer up, For a trifling consideration I shall be delighted to straighten it out for you. There. Look. A perfect image. The evil of distortion is exorcised. Now you have nothing to repent of any longer. Now you are one of the illumined and elect. That will be ten thousand dollars, please.”
And immediately come seven devils, and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
— W. H. Auden, “Lecture Notes” (6 November 1942)
Note: Multiply the bill by twenty for 2022 dollars. The devil count remains the same.– DL
from the archive; first posted February 26, 2011.
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Author: The Best American Poetry
