Essay about Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism - 2493 Words

I strongly believe that every person who reads a book, listens to the radio, or watches a program on television will make their own assumptions. I know I do. Most of us will ask, â€Å"Why did the main character make that decision?† Or â€Å"What were they thinking?† Could it be that the author of the story is protruding their own subconscious thoughts and beliefs through their characters? Absolutely, most critics have adapted psychoanalytic literary criticism theory based upon the works of psychoanalysis by famous psychologists Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Jacques Lacan to literary works. Psychoanalytic literary criticism does not constitute a unified field....However, all variants endorse, at least to a certain†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"To discover [the author’s] intention . . . I must first discover the meaning and content of what is represented in his work; I must, in other words, be able to interpret it† (Freud 212). The analysis is of the author, characters, audience and text. â€Å"A Woman Like Me’ written by Xi Xi from Hong Kong, in 1982 is about a woman who lied to her boyfriend about her profession because she was afraid she would lose him. Her fear came about when her aunt, the woman who taught her everything she knows about her profession explained her own past when the man she loved left her for being a mortuary cosmetician. In â€Å"Swaddling Clothes† written by Mishima Yukio from Japan in 1966, a young woman is haunted by fresh memories of her unwedded wet nurse who gives birth in her home. The vision of the child who is wrapped in newspaper by the doctor drives her to obsess about the child’s future. And lastly, â€Å"The Necklace† written by Guy de Maupassant from France in 1884, pertains to a woman who is unhappy with her life. She and her husband gets to attend a high end social, in order to look her best she borrows what she thinks is an expensive necklace. Soon after leaving the ball she discovers she loses the necklace. Thus, begins a ten year struggle to replace the item. In psychoanalyzing literary characters it’s said that the characters are usually projections of an author’s own psyche. The theory is used to analyze theShow MoreRelatedEssay on Nella Larsens Passing1387 Words   |  6 Pagesfamiliar and unfamiliar. The uncanny can be defined as something that creates a feeling of familiarity but also unfamiliarity, and this unfamiliarity is what is fearful to the individual. Freud’s essay â€Å"The Uncanny† can be related to the field of literary criticism because he explains how the feeling of the uncanny relates to the author’s attempt to convey a certain response from their audience. This type of analysis bridges Freud’s work and Larsen’s novel in order to re-examine and debate certain momentsRead MoreCharacters Giving Monologue William Faulkner’s Novel, As I Lay Dying807 Words   |  3 PagesLiterary critic Patricia Waugh asserted, â€Å"Psychoanalytic literary criticism does not constitute a unified field....However, all variants endorse, at least to a certain degree, the idea that l iterature is fundamentally entwined with the psyche.† William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, institutes elements of the psych which allow the text to be analyzed through the psychoanalytic lens. There are several events that go unexplained in the novel and they all seem to revolve around Darl; the psychoanalyticRead MorePsychoanalytic Criticism on Emily Dickinson Essay1086 Words   |  5 PagesPsychological criticism is known as the type of criticism that analyses the writer’s work within the realms of Freud’s psychological theories. 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The general idea of reader-response criticism is not new, and dates back to Aristotle’s Poetics. Literature is supposed to engender catharsis, e.g. a tragedy takes you through an emotional journey, arousing pity and fear, forcing a purging or vomiting of emotion, a purification and sublimationRead MoreEssay about The Introduction of Feminist Criticism1815 Words   |  8 Pagesfeminism. Such literary women as Austin, Bront#235;s, Eliot and Dickenson appeared that time. In the early 20th century, women finally gained the suffrage which marked the climax of the womens liberation movement. In the 1960s, New Feminism concerned with the human rights for black people again came to its climax. This time, it was more pervasive and comprehensive in all fields of society, according feminist literary criticism found its way to critical theories. 2. Feminist Criticism Feminist