ABSTRACT
To transpose trickster paradigm onto Sigmund Freud's ideas, the emerging sexual instinct is such a powerful force that its Oedipal encounter with civilisation leads to the accumulation of creative energy. The tree is a suitable and powerful metaphor to describe the creative process because it renders the sheer force with which the trickster impulse takes over the ego-consciousness of the artist. In contrast to Freud and the post-Freudians, Jung's additional 'layer' of the psyche, the collective unconscious, permitted him to detach the work of art from the Oedipal, sexual or any other personal issues the artist may harbour. Melanie Klein is not alone in thinking that creativity has its origins in primary narcissism, and that it is also a remedy for narcissistic disturbances. Donald Winnicott linked human creativity to personality development. The Soviet Union is a good example of a regime with some serious 'trickster problems'. Representatives of the 'creative intelligentsia' were treated in the Soviet Union as dangerous tricksters.
