Psychoanalytical Literary Criticism

Or, why all characters, authors, and readers have issues.

Psychoanalytical Criticism This kind of literary criticism sees a text like a dream-

everything represents something deeper, below the surface

Can be about the author’s “hidden life”. This analysis of the text could be an expression of the secret, repressed life of its author, explaining the textual features as symbolic of psychological struggles in the writer’s life.

Can be about the “secret life” of the characters, applying psychoanalytical theory to explain their hidden motives or psychological makeup (“armchair psychology”)

This can overlap Reader Response Criticism in that you can look at ways in which specific readers reveal their own obsessions, neuroses, etc. as they read a particular text. Why do you like the books you do? What does that say about YOUR repressed issues?

Two subcategories that we’ll study

Freudian based on the theories of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.

Terms to know: unconscious, repression, Oedipus Complex, libidinal imagery

Jungian based on the theories of psychoanalyst Carl Jung.

Terms to know: collective unconscious, archetypes (innocent, trickster, wise fool, teacher/prophet), hero’s journey (innocence, initiation, chaos, resolution)

Freudian Analysis

The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud spent much of his life exploring the workings of the unconscious.

the unconscious--the big iceberg which contains the hidden, repressed desires of life for an individual

Freudian Ideas

Everyone has repressed, or hidden emotions

An author may manifest their issues through the types of characters or plot lines they write

Meaning in a piece of literature can come from finding those hidden meanings

More Freudian analysis terms: It can be all about sex Can be looking for examples of the Oedipus Complex Based on Greek tragedy story where a orphaned prince later

finds out that he’s killed his father and married his mother without ever knowing it. He finds out, freaks out, and blinds himself.

In working out instinctual desire to possess mother, leading to inevitable conflict with father, the child forms a personality.

Yes, I know, creepy…but don’t a lot of issues come from the dynamics of family power? Don’t kids often wish they had more power or authority over their parents?

look for libidinal imagery: yonic (sexual symbolism for a female) phallic (sexual symbolism for a male)

Connection to Formalism

Formalism says that a piece of work is not about author’s intent, but about what actually ended up on the page and what meanings are present in the work regardless of intent.

Despite the importance of the author’s role here, psychoanalytic criticism does not concern itself with "what the author intended," but instead what the author never intended (that is, what was repressed or in the author’s subconscious).

Questions a Freudian Analysis might ask of a piece of literature

What is Holden’s problem? What was the relationship like between the

author and his family? How successful did the author feel in

romantic relationships? What kind of person would identify with this

book? (OR, “Who’s messed up enough to like this book?” )

Jungian Analysis

Freudian analysis assumes that images and ideas in a text mean something else than they apparently mean. He usually assumes their meanings are inherently about repressed sexual issues.

In contrast, Jung assumes that images essentially imply (or symbolize) something based on the “collective unconscious” of the population, or, based on what the most people would generally recognize to be true.

Collective Unconsciousness

Carl Jung's collective unconscious: man shares knowledge, experiences, images with entire human race, resulting in archetypes that affect how people respond to life--when certain images are in literature, they call up our archetypal feelings

Archetype: something that serves as the model or pattern for other things of the same type

Common Archetypes “The innocent”: a character that despite being simple or child-

like, has a intuitive wisdom. Charlie from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Pollyanna

“The trickster”: a character who succeeds through playfulness, often irreverent and disrespectful. Pee Wee Herman, Ferris Bueller

“The warrior”: a character who does not subvert the system, but faces it head on. Superman, Batman

“The teacher/prophet”: a character who has learned from experiences and uses their wisdom to guide others. Yoda, Merlin

The Hero’s Journey Another archetypical format for analysis:

Innocence: Starts with a character who is pretty happy, no real conflicts, lack of worldly experiences

Initiation: Some fall from innocence. Could be death, tragedy, awareness of evil, emotional or sexual relationship

Chaos: After that cruddy fall from innocence, a time of trial. Will the character come through it, or regress back to a false innocence or denial?

Resolution: If the character has made it through chaos, they’re smarter, stronger, and more stable. They have learned from their issues and are now looking towards a bright future.

Where do you think Holden is on this journey? Is he a hero??

Questions a Jungian Analysis may ask of a piece of literature

What role does this character play? What images are representative of other

ideas in our culture? What stage of the hero’s journey is our

character in currently? How did the character “fall from innocence”?

Any questions?

Questions for you…

What type(s) of literature do you like, and what might that say about your subconscious?

What stage of the hero’s journey do you think you’re in currently?