"All I wanted was my father's blessing.

"
Peter Blos, Son and Father: Before and Beyond the Oedipus Complex.
His need for that approval was obviously "an innate, irrefutable feeling"
that lasted to the end of his life.
Philip Rahv, Introduction to Selected Stories of Franz Kafka.
His relationship with his father, a relationship that was expressed, like
man’s relationship with God, mostly by its absence, was, after all, the great
sunless center of his being.
Rich Cohen, Lake Effect.
"I loved my father—I know that. What I did not know was that I also
hated him—even worse: I despised him. When I despised him, it felt like God
had come apart. I wanted my father to worship me, come down on his knees.
Oh, 'love' and 'hate' is just speaking in the broadest terms. There is more.
What? The wish to conquer him. . . ."
Peter Blos, Son and Father: Before and Beyond the Oedipus Complex.
It is clear that the source of the principle of authority so characteristic of
his art is to be traced to his ambivalent attitude to his father, an attitude of
strong repulsion as well as identification. Constructed out of elements of his
own personality, the protagonist of his major fictions is coerced by extranatural
powers who are continually justified and exalted even as they are made to
manifest themselves in the guise of a menacing and arbitrary bureaucracy.
Philip Rahv, Introduction to Selected Stories of Franz Kafka.
These are quite legitimate points of view . . .
Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism.
Although on the other hand I must say that . . .
Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis.
Divine bureaucrats do not squat on the ground under terebinth trees and
devour roast veal so as to strengthen themselves to walk down the road and
destroy a sinful city or two.
Harold Bloom, The Book of J.
I am reminded of . . .
Peter Blos, Son and Father: Before and Beyond the Oedipus Complex.
. . . Jacob's all-night struggle with a nameless divine being . . .
 Harold Bloom, The Book of J.
. . . who wrestled with Jacob . . .
Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, Iyunei Shabbat.
. . . until dawn. And when the being saw that he couldn't . . .
Genesis. A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories by Stephen
Mitchell.
. . . beat his opponent . . .
Johannes Ehrmann, Float Like a Butterfly.
. . . he struck him on his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was
wrenched out of joint.
And he said, "Let me go: dawn is coming."
And he said, "I will not let you go until you bless me."
And he said, "What is your name?"
And he said, "Jacob."
And he said, "Your . . .
Genesis. A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories by Stephen
Mitchell.
. . . name . . .
Johannes Ehrmann, Float Like a Butterfly.
. . . will no longer be Jacob, Heel-Grasper, but . . .
Genesis. A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories by Stephen
Mitchell.
. . . will become . . .
Sigmund Freud, Preface to the Hebrew Translation of Totem and Taboo.
. . . Israel, He Who Has Struggled with God, because you
have struggled with God and you have won."
Genesis. A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories by Stephen
Mitchell.
Jacob now said:
Harold Bloom, The Book of J.
I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for
this intercourse.
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.
 I will take my name from you
Richard Wagner, Die Walkure.
“ Israel ” . . .
Ken Frieden, Freud's Dream of Interpretation.
. . . you call me and victorious I am!
Richard Wagner, Die Walkure.
And Jacob said, "Please, tell me your name."
And he said, "You must not ask my name." And he left him there.
And Jacob named the place Penuel, The Face of God: "because I have
seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared." And the sun rose on him as
he passed . . .
Genesis. A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories by Stephen
Mitchell.
. . . on the road . . .
Victor Debs, Jr., “That Was Part of Baseball Then.”
. . . through Penuel, and he was limping.
Genesis. A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories by Stephen
Mitchell.
In Jewish households, he was . . .
Jane Leavy, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy.
. . . destined to become . . .
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World.
. . . the New Patriarch: Abraham, Isaac, . . .
Jane Leavy, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy.
. . . and Jacob:
William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.
. . . Wrestling Jacob, . . .
Harold Bloom, Wrestling Sigmund: Three Paradigms for Poetic
Originality.
. . . A rare distinction.
Robert Pinsky, Excerpt from The Night Game.
“His triumph surpassed mere success.”
Jane Leavy, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy quoting Robert Pinsky.
 What does it mean?
James Joyce, Ulysses.
The scriptures are unalterable and the comments often enough merely
express the commentator’s bewilderment. In this case . . .
Franz Kafka, The Trial.
. . . the sage . . .
Franz Kafka, On Parables.
. . . Maimonides, . . .
James Joyce, Ulysses.
. . . a teacher of religion, . . .
Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time.
. . . considered it a prophetic vision, a form of “internal”
revelation taking place in Jacob’s psyche. Others, . . .
Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, Iyunei Shabbat.
. . . I am certain . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis: The Making and Unmaking of a
Psychoanalyst.

. . . would argue . . .
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle.
. . . that this was an event which took place in the
real world, as evidenced by the real impact it had, the injured thigh and the
consequent limp (32:32).
Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb, Iyunei Shabbat.
At any rate, . . .
Solomon Grayzel, A History of the Jews.
. . . real or imaginary, . . .
Isaac Deutscher, Israel’s Tenth Birthday.
Might we not recognize in the biblical story of Jacob a paradigmatic
reflection on one component of the son-father relationship which needs to be
settled before childhood can be brought to a natural termination?
Peter Blos, Son and Father: Before and Beyond the Oedipus Complex.
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