Psychoanalytic Approaches to Literature (1) Structure of the Mind, Child Development & Love (2) Dream and Sexual Symbols (3) Psychological Disorders

Outline Q & A Subjectivity, Repression and Sublimation Interpretation of Dreams Examples of Dreams Freud ’ s from the textbook Other types of Dreams Sexual Symbols Edgar Allan Poe Literature and Psychoanalysis

Q & A: examples of “ family ” relationships How can the story of Peter Pan be psychoanalyzed? Does that influence your appreciation of this fairy tale? What does the excerpt from Sons and Lovers show about Paul? (156) What do you think about the family conflicts shown in clip 1? (18:49) Is repression, or sexual liberation, necessary for us and for our older generation? Is our consciousness still just the tip of an iceberg today?

Peter Pan Wendy ’ s last night at the nursery (female dominated); Peter never grows up, recognizing sexual attraction only in the form of mothering; Family drama in the children ’ s world Peter, mother and father to the lost boys; Nana the dog as a “ mother ” Effacement of the real fathers: Mr. Darling; Captain Hook

Subjectivity: Humanism (since Renaissance) Opposed religious dogmatism and scientism Affirms the human (but not the divine or the natural) The individual (over the social and its structure) Rational consciousness (over the unconscious) Freedom (over determinism) Self-knowledge (over knowledge of others or the world) experience (over objective knowledge)

Subjectivity: Modern Views — split or conflictual subjects I think, therefore I am (textbook p. 140)  Freud: I express and repress my desires, therefore I am.  Lacan: I am where I don ’ t think; I think where I am not.  Marxism: I work, therefore I am not (alienation); I shop, therefore I am?

Subjectivity: Modern Views (2) Subject as being “ subjected ” (p. 140) Located; even desire is culturally instigated (e.g. Kaja Silverman) Constructed through language because language offers us “ subject positions ” (e.g. Chris Weedon)

Repression and Sublimation Repression: (Addition to textbook ) Two kinds: primal repression (which establishes the unconscious), second repression Separates ideas from energy  with ideas banished to the unconscious (as codes),  and energy repressed, converted into another affect, or into anxiety)  The return of the repressed (as symptoms): when repression is not successful. examples of symptoms (also coded): Freudian slips, jokes, and dreams.dreams Sublimation – de-sexualizes the love-object, sublimate instincts into “ higher ” cultural pursuits

The dream-work... Dreams-- the royal road to the unconscious. Transforms the 'latent' content of the dream, the. 'forbidden' dream-thoughts, into the 'manifest' dream stories -- what the dreamer remembers.

3 kinds of Dream as wish fulfillment 1 st : wish fulfillments---the disguise is successful and the dream proceeds undisturbed, 2 nd : anxiety dreams --the disguise is absent or insufficient; the forbidden wish emerges, causes anxiety, and the dreamer wakes up 3 rd : content is disturbing but the feeling is not -- the wish is particularly well disguised by a misalliance of content and feeling

Dream Language Four elements: condensation, displacement, Symbolization, or consideration of representibility, secondary revision Examples: switches a person's hatred of Mr. Appleby to that of a rotting apple.

Examples of Dreams (1) Freud ’ s own dreams

Examples of Dreams (2) “ Dream ” by Henry Rousseau Dream Wish fulfillment of the woman reclining on a divan. Displacement: from a French drawing room to a jungle; Condensation: day and night; Sexual symbols: flowers, serpent, “ The painting is an illustration, but not a replica of dream ” (Cf. Adams) Spellbound

Examples of Dreams (2) Textbook – excerpt from The Wanderground “ dream normally ”  condensed images:

Other types of Dreams Does every dream have its latent content? Foreboding dreams Dreams related one ’ s physical condition Dreams as fulfillment of our conscious wishes Ask the Dream Doctor

Sexual symbols: Frued's notion of symbolism: the whole world can be absorbed narcissistically, the sexual drives can attach themselves to anything the senses perceive. Examples: Rene MargritteRene Margritte

Sexual symbols:

Edgar Allan Poe Bio: born in 1809; Father disappeared when he was 18 months old; Pretty and childlike mother died of consumption a year later; Married Virginia at the age of 26, when Virginia was 13 and already sickening. Virginia died of consumption 10 years later.

Allan & the Women in Poe ’ s Life

Marie Bonarparte ’ s work on Poe another example of psycho-biography; Her basic point: Fixated on his love for his mother  a necrophiliac Physically loyal to her, he married an ailing cousin and thus spares himself the need to consummate the marriage.

Marie Bonarparte ’ s work on Poe (2) Compulsion to repeat in “ Tales of the Mother ” and “ Tales of the father ” desire to be united with the dead mother Desire to kill the father figure Both desires are repressed and thus they cause anxiety. Bonarparte sees Poe ’ s tales as the manifest part of his dream/desire, through which she recovers the latent part.

“ The City in the Sea ” Thesis: Death, first as both the enthroned God and then the sunken city, is desired and held in awe by the speaker. 1. Conflicts between height and lowness Death — enthroned, down within the West, Shrines vs. waters Light rising and encircling vs. waters Tower vs. graves; pendulous vs. wide open Nothingness vs. movement (of the towers) Town going down vs. Hell rising.  Finally it is the City that is presented as more powerful than Death.

“ The City in the Sea ” : the paper (chap 3: pp ) Thesis: (p. 167) (conclusion) the poem is rich with sexual imagery and shows Poe ’ s id at work, striving to convey the deep passions and desires of his unconscious mind. Structure: Freud ’ s theory, Bonarparte ’ s reading of Poe ’ s life-- His art of sublimation of his sexual desires Phallic symbols in the poem; Poe ’ s repression Symbols of vigina, quickening of his desire Climax and post-climax

“ The City in the Sea ” : the paper (chap 3: pp ) Strengths: Notices the pulsating activities of the city. Attentive to various images.

the paper-- Problems? Thesis paragraph should be moved to the beginning. Introd. to Freudian theory & Poe ’ s life is good but a bit too long; Id as a conscious agent. (167) “ forgotten ” Missed the importance of death and the sea

Literature and Psychoanalysis Are Bonarparte ’ s and ‘ s readings of Poe reductive or not? Is literary work like a patient in front of literary critics as analysts? (Cf. textbook )  It ’ s hard to tell how much “ control ” an author has over his/her work; whether it is “ manipulated ” dream or fantasy. (Cf. 153)  The reader/critics themselves can be patient/texts.  Psycho-analyzing a text or its author cannot exhaust their meanings or values.

One evaluation

Next Week Jacque Lacan -- Identity as Split and in Lack, Desire as Displacement (Reader: chap 3 pp ; chap 4 pp ) Elizabeth Bishop's 3 poems; Ref. 〈性欲主體性之疑雲〉性欲主體性之疑雲