[8] Thus for example Hayden White has explored how 'Freud's descriptions tally with nineteenth-century theories of tropes, which his work somehow reinvents'.[9]. Psychoanalytic criticism is a form of literary criticism which uses some of the techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature. In addition to Freud, key figures are psychiatrist Carl … To see a great work of fiction or a great poem primarily as a psychological case study is often to miss its wider significance and perhaps even the essential aesthetic experience it should provide. STORIES OF ORIGIN The story of psychoanalysis, insofar as it may be said to begin with Freud's co-authored Studies on Hysteria (1895/1986), may also be said to begin with a woman – referred to as Anna O. in the case history reported by Freud and his mentor Josef Breuer. This chapter contains section titled: Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Jacques Lacan (1901–1981) It argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a manifestation of the author's own neuroses. More profitable are analyses of fictional characters, beginning with Freud's own suggestions about Prince Hamlet, later developed by his British disciple Ernest Jones: Hamlet feels unable to kill his uncle because Claudius's crimes embody his own repressed incestuous and patricidal wishes, in a perfect illustration of the Oedipus complex. Like all forms of literary criticism, psychoanalytic criticism can yield useful clues to the sometime baffling symbols, actions, and settings in a literary work; however, like all forms of literary criticism, it has its limits. There are four kinds of psychoanalytical literary criticism. [4] Later analysts would conclude that 'clearly one cannot psychoanalyse a writer from his text; one can only appropriate him'. The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature », Subjects: The … Literary theories still used in literary criticism today, in chronological order of appearance, courtesy of the Purdue OWL: Moral Criticism, Dramatic Construction (~360 BC-present) Formalism, New Criticism, Neo-Aristotelian Criticism (1930s-present) Psychoanalytic Criticism, Jungian Criticism (1930s-present) Marxist Criticism … Later readers, such as Carl Jung and another of Freud's disciples, Karen Horney, broke with Freud, and their work, especially Jung's, led to other rich branches of psychoanalytic criticism: Horney's to feminist approaches including womb envy, and Jung's to the study of archetypes and the collective unconscious. However, all variants endorse, at least to a certain degree, the idea that literature ... is fundamentally entwined with the psyche'.[1]. Northrop Frye considered that 'the literary critic finds Freud most suggestive for the theory of comedy, and Jung for the theory of romance'. [12], According to Ousby, 'Among modern critical uses of psychoanalysis is the development of "ego psychology" in the work of Norman Holland, who concentrates on the relations between reader and text'[13] - as with reader response criticism. Persse listened to this stream of filth flowing from between Angelica's exquisite lips and pearly teeth with growing astonishment and burning cheeks, but no one else in the audience seemed to find anything remarkable or disturbing about her presentation'. However, more complex variations of psychoanalytic criticism are possible. Freud presented a structural model of a human personality. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2021. Many questions linger after a certain reader reads the short story. Psychoanalytic literary criticism has always been something of an embarrassment. STORIES OF ORIGIN The story of psychoanalysis, insofar as it may be said to begin with Freud's co-authored Studies on Hysteria (1895/1986), may also be said to begin with a woman – referred to as Anna O. in the case history reported by Freud and his mentor Josef Breuer. The Interpretation of Dreams has been a central point of reference for literary critics inspired by psychoanalysis. ». It argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a manifestation of the author's own neuroses. Definition The definition of Psychoanalytic criticism adopts the methods of "reading" employed by Freud and later theorists to interpret texts. Psychoanalytic Criticism. We noticed that literary criticism has used psychoanalysis theory to interpret literature and literature has also attempted to exploit and use psychoanalysis for creative purposes. put it in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature,[2]. [7], Waugh writes, 'The development of psychoanalytic approaches to literature proceeds from the shift of emphasis from "content" to the fabric of artistic and literary works'. "From Lacan to Darwin" in, Des métaphores obsédantes au mythe ersonnel, Classical Freudian Literary Criticism: An Introduction, Theory of Psychotherapy and other Human Sciences (Documents No. All Rights Reserved. Especially influential here has been the work of Jacques Lacan, an avid reader of literature who used literary examples as illustrations of important concepts in his work (for instance, Lacan argued with Jacques Derrida over the interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter"). The criticism is similar to psychoanalysis itself, closely following the analytic interpretive process discussed in Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams and other … As Guerin, et al. Freud often acknowledged his debts to the poets, and his theory of the Oedipus complex is itself a sort of commentary upon Sophocles' drama. A comparable exercise is Wilson's essay ‘The Ambiguity of Henry James’ (1934), which interprets the ghosts in The Turn of the Screw as imaginary projections of the governess's repressed sexual desires. The critic analyzes the language and symbolism of a text to reverse the process of the dream work and arrive at the underlying latent thoughts. While we don't have the room here to discuss all of Freud's work, a general overview is necessary to explain psychoanalytic literary criticism. This means that the text represses its real (or latent) content behind obvious (manifest) content. Psychoanalysis (from Greek: ψυχή, psykhḗ, 'soul' + ἀνάλυσις, análysis, 'investigate') is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques used to study the unconscious mind, which together form a method of treatment for mental disorders.The discipline was established in the early 1890s by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, who retained the term psychoanalysis … Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. Although Freud's writings are the most influential, some interpretations employ the concepts of heretical psychoanalysts, notably Adler, Jung, and Klein. As Trilling and others have objected, this approach risks reducing art to pathology. A third possible object of analysis, after the author and the fictional protagonist, is the readership. As Celine Surprenant writes, 'Psychoanalytic literary criticism does not constitute a unified field. Like the author, … Stephen Heath. psychoanalytic criticism  Explains basics of Psychoanalytic Criticism. (1856—1939) founder of psychoanalysis, See all related overviews in Oxford Reference Psychoanalytic Theory & Criticism Primary Sources I Psychanalytic Theory & Criticism Traditional Freudian Marie Bonaparte, Edgar Poe, étude psychanalytique (1933, 2 vols. Then, the juxtaposition of a writer's works leads the critic to define symbolical themes. Felman’s work is situated at the interface of Postmodernism, cultural criticism and Psychoanalysis. “The ‘Uncanny.”. The criticism has been made, however, that in his and his early followers' studies 'what calls for elucidation are not the artistic and literary works themselves, but rather the psychopathology and biography of the artist, writer or fictional characters'. Literature, View all reference entries They point at an obsession just as dreams can do. The study implied four different phases: On Mauron's concept, the author cannot be reduced to a ratiocinating self: his own more or less traumatic biographical past, the cultural archetypes that have suffused his "soul" contrast with the conscious self, The chiasmic relation between the two tales may be seen as a sane and safe acting out. Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism Adopts the methods of "reading" employed by Freud and later theorists to interpret texts. 'Lacan's theories have encouraged a criticism which focuses not on the author but on the linguistic processes of the text'.