Forms and Types of Aggression and Destructiveness Based on Erich Fromm’s Theory (with a Literary Critical Analysis of Anna Holt′s Novel Death of the Demon)

Abstract

The article focuses on the forms of destructiveness based on Erich Fromm’s theory, especially the concept of playful and vengeful violence, necrophilia, narcissism and symbolic fixation with the mother. The representation of the necrophilic orientation in some resonant personalities, the types of benign, malignant and social narcissism are concepts taken from Erich Fromm and clarified in the theoretical course of the article. The author applies the concept of destructiveness through the prism of symbolic fixation towards the mother, based on the novel by the Norwegian writer Anne Holt „Death of the Demon". The morbid aspects of the child′s development and the investigation of the crime are the key dimensions through which Anna Holt′s novel can be read and interpreted.