Psychoanalytic Interpretation and Literature

2 CE credits for Social Workers and Psychologists

This is an introduction to the relationship between psychoanalysis and literature, beginning with Freud’s integration of literary references (e.g., the Oedipus myth) into the development of his theories. The work of other theoreticians, including Bion, Bonaparte, Jung, Lacan, and Žižek, will be considered. Psychoanalytic concepts frequently explored in literature, such as deferred action, fantasy, hysteria, paranoia, sublimation, the uncanny, trauma, and perversion, will be discussed. RSVP by email.

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Jean-Michel Rabaté, PhD, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, has authored or edited 35 books on modernism, psychoanalysis, contemporary art, philosophy, and the writers Beckett, Pound, and Joyce. He is the editor of a forthcoming book, James Joyce’s Works (London, Anthem Press).