Ivan Ward, ‘Parsifal’ as Castration Drama

July 2017, Volume 11, Number 2, 4–14.

‘The Prince Consort sits under a gothic tent, so to speak, around whose base runs a frieze of sculptures which depicts writers, artists, sculptors, musicians, as life-like as possible […]. But it is very curious how rapidly a collection becomes incomplete. Lacking for us nowadays, of course, is Richard Wagner.’

It is hardly surprising that Freud, visiting London in 1908, should notice something missing at the base of the Albert Memorial. As the creator of psychoanalysis he specialised, so to speak, in spotting what was not there.