ABSTRACT
Embodying Freud’s portrayal of polymorphous perversity, denizens of that iniquitous metropolis flagrantly violated all manner of taboos. The populace doggedly incarnated Freud’s imaginative view of our ontogenetic condition prior to the establishment of oedipal taboos under the auspices of the superego that prepare the way for the relative quiescence of latency. Just as Freud usefully underscored our profound temptation to transgress taboos, so Lot’s wife could not resist defying the divine interdiction on looking back on the wild subculture from which they were separating. While glancing back in that Biblical narrative was clearly forbidden and dangerous, looking forward would have turned out to be equally perilous. Intuitively grasping the intricate dance between our phylogenetic inheritance, our culture, and our intimate relational surround, they comprehended the significance of taboos and temptations, and understood our longings to circumvent these prohibitions directly, indirectly, and through various compromise formations.
