The veneration of religious icons has never before been subjected to psychoana-lytic study. In his new book American scholar Daniel Rancour-Laferriere makes empirical observations on the behavior of Russian Orthodox Christians in the presence of their favorite icons, investigates folkloric beliefs about icons, psychoanalyzes theological treatises on icons, and offers skeptical commentary on the miracles allegedly performed by icons. It is demonstrated that icons of the Mother of God constitute the most popular category of icons in Orthodox Russia. The Mother of God is even deemed Palladium of the Russian State. This is because she functions as an omnipotent and idealized maternal object in the unconscious lives of her nationalist venerators. The Mother of God also encourages masochistic fantasies and behaviors among her venerators, for on the majority of her icons she accompanies and implicitly approves of her son, Jesus Christ, that model moral masochist who voluntarily offered himself up to be tortured and crucified on the cross.

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26 color and 2 black and white illustrations, book size 145 x 220 mm weight 486 grams

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere (born 1943) is Emeritus Professor of Russian at the University of California, Davis. Before retiring he was Director of the Russian Program at UC Davis. Rancour-Laferriere's research on human sexuality led to the publication of a semiotic/Darwinian monograph _Signs of the Flesh_ in 1985 (Mouton de Gruyter; reprinted by Indiana University Press, 1992). In the area of Russian studies he has published numerous articles and books, including: _Out From Under Gogol's Overcoat_ (Ardis, 1982); _The Mind of Stalin_ (Ardis, 1988); _The Slave Soul of Russia_ (New York University Press, 1995); _Tolstoy on the Couch_ (Macmillan/New York University Press, 1998); _The Joy of All Who Sorrow: Icons of the Mother of God in Russia_ (Ladomir, 2005). His new book _Tolstoy's Quest for God_ will appear in 2007 (Transaction).