"With lucid and compelling prose, David Seelow makes a strong case for rethinking the concept of a radical modernism vis-a-vis so-called postmodernism. His three central players, Freud, Lawrence, and Reich, are shown to have demanded a radical theory of sexuality that integrated an affirmation of libido with an impassioned critique of social repression. Of special importance for students of psychoanalysis ... Read moreis his very careful analysis of Freud shaped by an astute study of Reich's radicalization of the Freudian libido theory into a biologically-based theory of Orgone energy. The novels of D.H. Lawrence are mined for their astonishing richness within the context of Freud's and Reich's theories of pansexuality and all three visionaries are shown to be prophets of the inner logic of modernism. In short, this is a very important book that brings a new level of lucidity to the many layers of sexuality in modernist culture." - Robert S. Corrington, author of Wilhelm Reich: Psychoanalyst and Radical Naturalist "David Seelow's substantial re-reading of Freud argues the value of fetishism as an essential part of sexual life. From that unsettling beginning, Seelow goes on to show how Freud, Wilhelm Reich, and D.H. Lawrence comprise a subversive, radical triad within modernist thought, one that he extends skillfully into the postmodern visions of Battaile and Baudrillard. His Reichian readings of Lawrence, especially of 'The Prussian Officer' and 'The Escaped Cock' ('The ManWho Died') are brilliant and original, but Seelow never loses sight of the ambiguities and uncertainties of the desire for sexual utopia that energized Reich and Lawrence. By the end, Seelow makes good on his claim to have uncovered the core value of modernism in its critical understanding of sexuality." - Arthur Efron, University at Buffalo Show Less