“That no human being has ever yet seen the light of day for whom some hour did not come in which he wished that he had not been born.” [1] This dictum of Friedrich Spielhagen’s (1829-1911) makes clear the extent to which every procreation is an imposition and touches upon the >Parent Taboo. One might be tempted to dismiss Spielhagen’s dictum with the contention that it expresses just the mood of a passing moment. – But this is to forget that such a wish never to have been born may be the culminating point of some despair of much longer duration. Alternatively, one might take the attitude that “once in a while, in a long life, one is bound to feel that way” – an attitude, in our view, which lies at the root of nativistic >Ruthlessness.
[1] Friedrich Spielhagen, Problematische Naturen. Zweite Abteilung (Durch Nacht zum Licht)
