The fraternal complex between psychoanalysis and myth A literary example: Strange Shores

Abstract

The field of siblings relationship, initially considered in psychoanalysis mostly in its interaction with the oedipal dynamics, knows today important developments so that the "fraternal complex" has achieved its own independence. The paper aims to investigate the “fraternal complex” both in psychoanalytic area , from the Freudian perspective to contemporary authors, and in myth and literature. It is traced the birth and development of this concept showing how its different facets had been largely anticipated by the myth, especially Jewish myth. The second part of the article focuses on a literary example, “Strange Shores" by A. Indriðason, that offers many ideas to explore some of the dynamics of the fraternal complex in its intersection with fundamental issues in the field of psychoanalysis as the symbol, the double, the shadow, the guilt and the mourning.