Thalassa: teorija genitalnosti

In Thalassa: A Theory of Genitality (1924), the Hungarian psychoanalyst Sándor Ferenczi combines psychoanalysis, biology, and mythology into a unified vision of sexuality. Drawing on Freud's theory of libido, he argues that the sexual drive is deeply rooted in the biological past of life. For Ferenczi, genital love expresses man's unconscious desire to return to a primordial state of unity—symbolically to the "sea," the source of life. He draws parallels between embryonic development in the womb and the ancient evolutionary transition from sea to land, and sees orgasm as a psychophysical memory of this primordial unity. Sexuality, for him, is not only a desire for pleasure, but also a striving to reunite with the primal source of life and the sense of wholeness that man has lost through the development of consciousness and civilization.