Identification in Life and Literature

Sigmund Freud viewed the coping strategy of identification as both an expansion of the verb to identify, as well as a validation of the concept to identify with. This book shows how the Aztec emperor Montezuma and the noted Argentine writer Julio Cortzar each, respectively, used the process of identification in a Freudian manner. In the case of Montezuma, it is argued that he identified the Spanish conquistador Hernn Corts as the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror), while for Cortzar, it is demonstrated that he identified with a Moteca Indian from the Aztec world, who was about to be sacrificed.