1. Psychoanalytic Criticism

2. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Tension, or discrepancy, between the conscious "surface life" and the unconscious, which is the unseen, unacknowledged controlling force

3. Drives at an instinctual level dictate much of what we say and do at a conscious level. Dreams, sexual abnormalities, neurotic pathologies will break through the disguises of conscious normality. Drives may be frustrated or displaced for a time, but not indefinitely.

4. Human history has been dominated by the need to labor, which results in repression of tendencies to pleasure and gratification; i.e., repression of pleasure principle by reality principle Repression may make us ill if overdone: neurosis

5.  One way to cope with desires is sublimation: directing them toward more socially valued ends  Art functions to fulfill our dreams and unconscious impulses and cater to our libidinal desires; it's a form of voyeurism that is universally, socially acceptable.

6.  The unconscious is the place to which we relegate unfulfilled desires; its goal is the search for pleasure  Dreams are the road to the unconscious.

7. Id, Ego, Superego: The Ego represses the Id, though the desires of the Id may be expressed in disguised form: Id, Ego, Superego: The Ego represses the Id, though the desires of the Id may be expressed in disguised form:  dreams  language (Freudian slip)  in creative activities that may produce art (literature)  neurotic behavior  Oedipus Complex/Electra Complex

8.  Jacques Lacan (1901- 1981): The unconscious is structured like a language.  Three essential orders: Imaginary, Real, and Symbolic

9. Three Essential Orders 1. Imaginary: The infant identifies with the image of wholeness (sees itself and its mother as a whole entity) 2. Symbolic: The realm of law, language, and society; its symbolic system is language (represented by the father—"The Name of the Father"); child sees itself as constituted by relations of difference and similarity to other subjects around it; can be a source of anxiety

10. Three Essential Orders 3. Real: The substantial world that resists and exceeds interpretation. It cannot be imagined, symbolized, or known directly. It constantly eludes our efforts to name it. Death, gravity, and the physicality of objects are examples of the Real. The Real can be frightening; we try to tame it with laws and language and call it "reality."

11. Psychoanalytic theorists treat the text as something like a patient. Nothing is accidental in the text.Psychoanalytic theorists treat the text as something like a patient. Nothing is accidental in the text. Texts are meaningful in terms of the psychology of the author and characters.Texts are meaningful in terms of the psychology of the author and characters.

12. Before 1950: Texts reveal the individual author. Characters are the author's potential self or projections of what the author has repressedBefore 1950: Texts reveal the individual author. Characters are the author's potential self or projections of what the author has repressed 1970s: How do works appeal to our repressed wishes and fancies? A focus on the psychology of the reader of the text (another contrast with Formalism, which saw the text as an object independent of the author and the reader)1970s: How do works appeal to our repressed wishes and fancies? A focus on the psychology of the reader of the text (another contrast with Formalism, which saw the text as an object independent of the author and the reader)

13. –Symbolism in literature may arise when the author's conscious mind resists what the unconscious tells him/her to describe.

14. Other questions of psychoanalytic criticism: Other questions of psychoanalytic criticism: How is the text shaped by its (intentional or unintentional) representation of the psychological desires, needs, and conflicts of its characters—or by those of its author?How is the text shaped by its (intentional or unintentional) representation of the psychological desires, needs, and conflicts of its characters—or by those of its author? Can literary works by one author reveal the mind of that author?Can literary works by one author reveal the mind of that author?