Man into Wolf
essay by Robert Eisler
Man Into Wolf; An Anthropological Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism and Lycanthropy is a book by Robert Eisler, published in 1948. The text is based upon his readings in archeology and anthropology; anything not covered by these disciplines is then dealt with using Jungian methods of dream analysis and the theory of archetypes. For instance, his remarks concerning the nature of life in prehistory are largely derived from his interpretations of the dreams of psychotherapy patients.
Subject matter
Eisler begins with an investigation into sadism and masochism which concludes that people seek not pleasure so much as strong sensations. Whether one seeks strong pleasurable sensations, unpleasurable ones, or some combination thereof depends on which group of apes one is descended from.
He asserts that humanity evolved from two groups of apes: one peaceful, vegetarian and practicing free love; the other violent, carnivorous and given to fighting over sex partners. Originally all were of the former group. However, Eisler argues that Ice Age food shortages caused some to imitate wolves and other beasts of prey, wearing animal skins and taking up hunting. He claims this is the historical basis of the werewolf legends found in many cultures.
Eisler advocates a return to what he imagines was the harmonious life of the earliest primates and proposes the development of a new psychology and ultimately a new society, lest we are destroyed in a nuclear war brought about by descendants of the wolf-men.
“Man into Wolf” enters the record as essay by Robert Eisler. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Wolf, essay and Robert can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 3, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4006188. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948.
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This entry incorporates text from “Man into Wolf” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.