“Psychoanalytic Criticism”

Psychoanalytic Criticism appeared in the early 20^th century. It is an extrinsic approach which consists in the application of some psychological values to the study of literature. Psychoanalytic criticism focuses on the writer's psyche and the study of mental processes of creation, psychological types and principles within works of literature, or the effects of literature upon its readers. Its major figures were Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. {Dr. Kristi Siegel, “Introduction to Modern Literary Theory”, 22/5/2006 <http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm>}.

If we say that a literary work cannot be analysed disregarding its historic background, we can say, as well, that it cannot be analysed without taking into account its author. “The practice of art constitutes a psychological activity” {C.G. Jung 1922, “Sobre las relaciones de la psicología analítica con la obra poética”, p.57}: Quoted in Manuel Asensi's "Historia de la Teoría de la Literatura", vol.2, p. 531. For that reason, within the history of criticism, almost every literary work analysed included some allusion to psychology. However, it was in the 20^th century, when the psychoanalytic issue became an independent approach.  Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) developed psychoanalysis at the end of the 19^th century. It starts from 3 principles: some somatic alterations are result of a psychic influence, our psyche has unconscious processes, and association of ideas can make the unconscious tangible. So, psychoanalysis says that there is a psychic zone called unconscious. It is described as a power which makes you act in a different way, it takes the control and you don’t know why. The answer lies inside the unconscious. Its content is full of repressed desires. They try to get out of the unconscious. Freud called this power ID. ID’s main feature is uncontrollability and the pleasure pursuit. It houses libido (sexual energy), wishes and fears. On the other hand there is the EGO, which has a coherent organisation of mental processes. It houses reason and sense. Moreover, there is another level: SUPER-EGO. It comes from the pressure of society, family, morality, law, etc. It makes individual repress sexual desires since he was born. Both ID and SUPER-EGO put pressure on the EGO. {Manuel Asensi Pérez, Historia de la teoría de la Literatura vol.2, p.534}.

{From Jean-Baptiste Fages, “Comprendre Jaques Lacan”, 1971, p.50}: Quoted in Manuel Asensi's, p. 534

The first repressed desire of an individual is known as the “Oedipus Complex”. His libido is first focused on his mouth, then on the anus, and finally on the genitals. His mother is his first sexual desire (she touches him, takes care of him, etc). His father is his enemy. However, when he grows up, he finds that law and morality don’t permit him to satisfy his desires, so they go to the unconscious, and the individual forgets it. Like this, the individual EGO is balanced between ID and SUPER-EGO (desires pressure and social pressure). {Ana García}.

The unconscious system tries to get out to the pre-conscious by means of dreams, fantasy, but also literature. Literature is, for Freud, a mean to express repressed desires: “Happy men never fantasize; just unsatisfied men fantasize”. So, it is a kind of “auto-therapy”. The psychoanalytic approach has interest on the relation between the text and its author. It tries to find “latent ideas” (repressed desires that are hidden), to decipher the real meaning (“patent content”). The approach must take into account every textual detail as a unit of sense. It analyses symbols, images that could deal with the human psyche or sexual aspects. It also looks for the relationship between these elements and the author. For example, Freud said that Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” was written because of the death of Shakespeare’s father. That fact provoked the comeback of old repressed instincts against his father. So, Hamlet doubts if he must or not revenge his father’s death. {Manuel Asensi Pérez, p.541}. Franz Kafka’s works have also clear examples of psychoanalytic elements: we can observe several symbols of the “Oedipus Complex”. In “The Metamorphosis”, Kafka tells us the story of a man who wakes up in the body of a big beetle. His family rejects him, and his main enemy is his father, who wants to kill him. His father acts as an impetuous, cruel, and despotic figure.  He only finds his sister’s help. His mother just pays attention in her husband. If we have a look at Kafka’s biography, we find that he was the only boy of a Jewish family (he had sisters). His father was too dominant for him and traumatised his childhood. He felt like an “insect” before his father.

To sum up, as we have said, the psychoanalytic approach tries to decipher the hidden repressed desires of its author: so they look for phallic or feminine elements; the “Oedipus Complex”, wishes, fears, and other unconscious material. A work of literature is like a dream. So we can know more about its author, but also more about ourselves, because we can also feel identified with one of the characters as a mean of alleviating our repressed desires.

After Freud, psychoanalytic criticism branched out:  Jacques Lacan and Carl Gustav Jung developed varieties of Freud’s psychoanalysis.

Bibliography:

“Historia de la Teoría de la Literatura vol.2, Manuel Asensi Pérez, 2003,

Tirant lo Blanch.

·English Narrative class, Ana García, Universisty of Valencia, 21/10/2004.

“Comprendre Jaques Lacan”, Jean-Baptiste Fages 1971, Edouard Privat.

“Introduction to Modern Literary Theory”, Dr. Kirsty Siegel

(siegelkr@core.com), 22/5/2006, <http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm>.

“Voice of the Shuttle”, Alan Liu (ayliu@english.ucsb.edu), 22/5/2006, 

<http:// vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2718 >

23/5/2006

Óscar Fernández Adriá

Academic year 2005-06
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Óscar Fernández Adrià
Universitat de València Press
osfera@alumni.uv.es