Raquel Jordá Bresó                                                    25 – V – 06

 

PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

 

The Psychological criticism is based upon the theories of the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the analysis of Carl G. Jung (1871-1961) and the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) (Asensi. p.526).

First of all, we have to distinguish between the different methods critics use when analysing a poem from the point of view of one of these three slowly-different theorists.

Freud’s theory that the human mind is divided into three psychic forces (ID – EGO – SUPEREGO) (Guerin. p.120), three different levels of consciousness and that “la literatura (or poetry) obedece al mismo principio que los sueños, a la necesidad de expresar un material psíquico reprimido ante la presión de una realidad excesivamente intolerante” (Asensi. p.532-40) makes the critic seek those elements in the text that tell us about the author’s mental frustrations, desires – especially those of sexual connotation – and how does s/he put them down in the text in order to discover the unconscious material of his/her mind. So we have to start from the idea “that literary criticism is about books and psychoanalysis is about minds. Therefore, the psychoanalytic critic can only talk about the minds associated with the book.” (Norman) Thus the very first critics that applied this kind of analysis to poetry limited their work to find out in the text the elements of the oedipical complex related to the mind of (chiefly) the author. This explained the author’s psychology and thus the text as a whole was (and still is) considered as a ‘catharsis’ needed for the author to be healthy. The critics just treat the text as a ‘psychological patient’ to find the mental illness of the author.

 

On the other hand, although he is a student and a follower of Freud’s theories, we find Carl G. Jung Criticism on Sigmund’s Freud psychoanalysis applied to poetry.

Carl G. Jung states that Freud was obsessed with repressions of the sexual instinct and that he treated the ‘ID’ as something particular and individual, whereas Jung believed in what he called the ‘collective unconscious’. This unconscious is made up of ‘archetypes’ and as it (the unconscious) is not individual but universal, every person has these archetypes although when they appear as part of the consciousness they are seen in a different way by each individual (Asensi. p.567-8).

Then when analysing a poem, critics following Jung’s statements may have into account that he thought the poetic work as “(una) actividad psicológica” (Asensi. p.571) and that we have to “sustraerla del espacio de lo personal, de la relación causal entre patología o motivo individual y la obra literaria” (Asensi. p.572). It is not a symbol of the individual’s frustrations but a representation on that collective unconscious. So we have to look for those archetypes in the text that show us these elements and symbols encrypted in the ‘collective ID’ of the society and reflected in the individual through his/her work.

Eventually the third psychologist, Jacques Lacan, feels closer to Freud’s theories than Carl G. Jung. However, he proposes another model of the psyche. For him it is composed by the IMAGINARY, SYMBOLIC and REAL stages (Siegel). Here “Lacan reinterprets Freud in light of structuralist and post-structuralist theories, turning psychoanalysis from an essentially humanist philosophy or theory into a post-structuralist one.” (Klages) Moreover, the influence of J. Lacan and his structuring of the unconsciousness as something “sujeto a unas leyes de esencia lingüística” (Asensi. p.580), makes the critic look for those elements in the structure of the text that are symbols of what is really ‘imaginary’ and try to find out how this ‘unknown’ material is structured.

As some scholars say, later psychological critics will go further to find not only this kind of elements but also fantastic, mythological elements or other sort of symbols, (Norman) found not only in the vocabulary of the text but also in its structure.

 

In my opinion, the most applied psychological model to analyse poetry or other literary work is that of Sigmund Freud. Some good poems in which we could put into practice his theories are that of Ted Hughes or that of his wife Sylvia Plath, who really suffered from a mental disease – depression – caused mainly by her father’s death when she was eight (Wikipedia).

Nonetheless, this approach to poetry can be applied to any poem from any time if we want to learn more about the poem and its author.

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Pérez, Manuel Asensi- “Psicoanálisis y Literatura.” Hª de la teoría de la literatura vol.2 (el siglo XX hasta los años setenta). Ed. Tirant Lo Blanch. Valencia: Tirant Lo Blanch, 2003.

- Guerin, Wilfred L. et al. “The Psychological Approach: Freud.”  A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 3rd ed. Ed. Oxford. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

- Holland, Norman N. The Mind and the Book: A Long Look at Psychoanalytic Literary CriticismEd. Norman N. Holland. 1998. 22 – May – 2006 

< http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/nnh/mindbook.htm >

- Introduction to Modern Literary Theory. Dr. Kristi Siegel (Associate Professor, English Dept. Chair - Languages, Literature, and Communication Division) siegelkr@core.com 22 – May – 2006

< http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#psycho >

- Lacan.Lec. Jacques Lacan. Dr. Mary Klages (Associate Professor of English) http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/lacan.html 23 - May - 2006

- Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Life of Sylvia Plath. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 23 – May – 2006 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath >

 

 

 

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