Okay, I think I sort of get it, with your clarification and reference in hand (with a few Wikipedia lookups to boot). So Freud is puzzled by the tendency to compulsively repeat unpleasant ideas or events (an anecdote given is Freud’s son[?] repeatedly acting out the disappearance of himself and his mother, or some such). His answer was to posit a death drive, if I get it right.
Some thoughts addressed in general, not in direct response to you (Joanna):
The thing though, even if you buy this Freudian resolution, is whether, as you explain the thesis, blogging is compulsive at all? If it were, the exhortations to blog frequently wouldn’t be necessary, no? I have about 50 different drafts sitting in my blog - ranging from an attempted criticism of Alex Gourevitch on Mark Lilla on Corey Robin to an old, old response to an article called “No Alternative” forwarded to the list by Doug 5+ years ago. There are blogs, and there are blogs. Some are public diaries, in which case indeed a compulsion might be the driving force (though I still cannot fathom the death drive within!). Others, such as Doug’s, are HTMLized versions of the sort of analysis he posts here, or on his site, or talks about in his radio intro. If there is any compulsion at work here, it is the healthy one to share knowledge and perhaps even advance some action.
> Love your prose rhythms.
You are too kind to me!
—ravi