Criticism and Psychoanalysis
ENGL 327
Spring 2025 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
RL&L 327, GRST 227 |
| Course Cluster and Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Certificate |
This course introduces some classical psychoanalytic methods of reading and interpretation, with accent on the four concepts Jacques Lacan identified as foundational: the unconscious, repetition, the transference, and the drive. We will approach psychoanalysis as a style of close reading whose influence on forms of interpretation--especially literary interpretation--has been immeasurable. One central concern will be the capacity of psychoanalysis to enable us to read ourselves reading, to make the interpretive situation itself the object of our analysis. Students with an interest in literary-critical methods will benefit from the course, as will students with an interest in the internal logic of an important body of thought. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ENGL)(FRST-MN)(FRST) |
Major Readings:
Sigmund Freud, THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS (Basic Books)
Sigmund Freud, JOKES AND THEIR RELATION TO THE UNCONSCIOUS (W.W. Norton)
Sigmund Freud, THE FREUD READER, ed. Peter Gay (W.W. Norton)
Jacques Lacan, SEMINAR XI: THE FOUR FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS (W.W. Norton)
A course reader including additional writings by Freud and Lacan, and pieces by Leo Bersani, Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, Frantz Fanon, Bruce Fink, Patricia Gherovici, Jean LaPlanche, Juliet Mitchell, Francesco Orlando, Adam Phillips, Hortense Spillers, Sebastiano Timpanaro, Samo Tomsic, and Slavoj Zizek.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly (2-3pp.) memos; four short (2-4pp.) reading exercises; one medium-length essay (5-7pp.); and one longer essay (12pp.). Writing assignments will deal variously with the theoretical texts and the application of psychoanalytic methods of reading to literary and cultural texts. Students wishing to fulfill the research-paper requirement for writing an honors thesis will complete memos and reading exercises, but will write a 20-25pp. research essay instead of the two essays. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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