"And of course, if psychoanalysis can help us better understand human behavior, then it must certainly be able to help us understand literary texts, which are about human behavior." (Tyson, 2006, p. 11)
Psychoanalytic Criticism can be traced to the principles of classical psychoanalysis established by Sigmund Freud over one hundred years ago. Psychoanalysis is the process of understanding human behavior and its origins. With the use of this therapeutic tool, one begins to better understand how the unconscious mind motivates human behavior. In Psychoanalytic Criticism, the author's unconscious is studied through a psychoanalytic lens. Below is a brief overview of several psychoanalytic principles as discussed by Lois Tyson in chapter two of her text, Critical Theory Today, (2006).
The unconscious is "the storehouse of those painful experiences and emotions, those wounds, fears, guilty desires, and unresolved conflicts we do not want to know about because we feel we will be overwhelmed by them" (Tyson, 2006, p.12). Beginning in childhood, unhappy and painful events are repressed into the unconscious mind so that the person is not overcome by those disturbing experiences. Psychoanalysis uncovers information that has been repressed and allows one to understand how behavior has been influenced by the repression of events and memories from one's past.
One's family of origin often has a direct impact on the unconscious particularly with what Freud referred to as the oedipal conflict and sibling rivalry. Oedipal conflict is the conflict one feels for the parent of the opposite gender. Sibling rivalry is the competition siblings possess as they compete for parental attention.
Defense mechanisms are tools of the unconscious that our minds use to avoid anxiety and unpleasant emotions. Some of the common defense mechanisms include denial, selective perception, selective memory, avoidance, displacement, projection, regression, active reversal, and fear of abandonment.
Literary critics believe that by examining an author's work through a psychoanalytic lens one can take a peek into the writer's unconscious mind. The production of a literary text is the expression of an author's conflicts and anxieties. Simply put; what an author says or does not say in a piece of literary work is a projection of his or her innermost thoughts, anxieties, and repressed events from one's past.
Perhaps this is why so many are intrigued by the work of great writers. It is not always what is written on the page, but what can be seen between the lines that fascinates us so.
Below is a link to Purdue's Online Writing Lab with further duscussion on Psychoanalytic Critism.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/04
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Wow, that Purdue site continues to amaze me. Thanks, Liz, for getting us off to a good start with your important chapter.
ReplyDeleteLiz, you really piqued my interest with your description of the the unconscious mind. I think, specifically, of dream weaving and Freud's dream analysis. I used to keep a journal of my dreams and try to figure out what they meant. Surely they were exploring the deepest recesses of my mind. I think that some of them might have made funny or horrific short stories. Do you think that this might be a way of writing from a psychoanalytic frame of mind? I guess it's not really "critical" though.
ReplyDeleteSays Tyson, "During sleep, the unconscious is free to express itself, and it does so in our dreams" (page 18). While we dream, our mind is free to reveal what we might not be comfortable expressing awake. Although true psychoanalytic critism involves evaluating what the author is not even aware of...yours would be a creative approach to the writing process.
ReplyDeleteLiz-
ReplyDeleteThanks for expanding on your criticism here. When I read your section about defense mechanisms, I couldn't help but think about my questions of identity and literacy practices. How many students stay away from traditional literacy because of a defense mechanism that may be cultural or personal?
You bring up a great point Lynn. Don't you think that this is something we do as teachers? In attempting to reach all students we often must scratch beneath the surface. Understanding student defense mechanisms and supporting/scaffolding their efforts is essential especially with marginalized populations.
ReplyDeleteLiz I really like this comment, "What an author says or does not say in a piece of literary work is a projection of his or her innermost thoughts, anxieties, and repressed events from one's past." I believe that as writers we have the tendency to be able to manipulate or hide our true feelings about situations. We have been taught to think and write a certain way where we actually avoid becoming our true selves by sharing what we really think. Can this way of writing help us or keep us from reaching that ultimate level of scholarly or personal writing.
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