Psychoanalysis: English Literature

Name: Psychoanalysis: English Literature
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Psychoanalytical Criticism

Created byDr. Masood Raja

Last updated 2/2022

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Basic knowledge of Psychoanalysis
Important concepts and terms
Skills of psychoanalysis as a mode of literary criticism
An understanding of using this knowledge in your research

Course content

4 sections • 14 lectures • 1h 43m total length

Introduction1:10
Explore core psychoanalysis ideas from Freud and learn to apply them to reading and writing about literature in English, with later perspectives from Lakhan and others.
Freudian Psychoanalysis: An Introduction24:22
This lecture is adapted from my Basic course on Literary Theory
Why I am Using Terry Eagleton?1:36
I explain why I rely on Terry Eagleton's reading of Freud and psychoanalysis to teach the basics. I provide a chapter five excerpt from Egerton's book as supplementary material.

The Id, Ego, and Super Ego3:51
Freud's personality theory (1923) saw the psyche structured into three parts (i.e., tripartite), the id, ego and superego, all developing at different stages in our lives.
The Id (Pleasure Principle): The id represents our deep instinctual desires.
The Ego (The Reality Principle): The ego is our rational mind that modulates between the id and the Super Ego.
Suprego: The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one's parents and others. It develops around the age of 3 – 5 years.
Neurosis2:52
Examine how neurosis arises from long infant care, producing a neurotic animal via repression and regression, and how psychoanalysis (Freud) addresses these repressed desires toward autonomy.
Sublimation0:57
Five Stages of Development6:29
Freud outlines five psychosexual stages—oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital—and links them to child development, including the Oedipus complex and reality principle and pleasure principle.
The Unconscious3:26
The Talking Cure4:00
Explore how psychoanalysis uses transference to turn trauma into a personal narrative, revealing the talking cure's role in treating psychological problems.

Psychoanalysis and Literary Criticism a la Terry Eagleton23:56
Eagleton outlines four psychoanalytic reading modes—author psyche, the text's content, the reader's informal construction of the text, and cultural milieu—advocating hermeneutic suspicion to uncover latent drives.
Critiques of Freud a la Terry Eagleton6:35
Lacanian Psychoanalysis a la Terry Eagleton16:37
Lacan reinterprets Freud through structuralist and post-structuralist theories of language, tracing the imaginary and symbolic order, the paternal law, and the pursuit of object a.
Psychoanalysis Uses in Your Work6:31

Requirements

Some basic knowledge of literary theory required.

Description

It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalysis changed literature. It is only after Freud that we find ourselves in the minds of fictional characters. The entire project of Stream of Consciousness in modern fiction (Woolf, Faulkner, Joyce and others) owes its inception and existence to Psychoanalysis.

This course aims to offer you basic knowledge of psychoanalysis and its use as a tool for literary analysis. (This course will serve you better if you have fist taken my beginners course on Literary Theory). Here are some of the things you will learn after finishing this course:

The basic concepts articulated and theorized by Freud.

Application of Psychoanalysis in understanding literary texts.

Understanding the world around you with a clear understanding of how our psyches play a role in our social behavior.

Please also note that at the bottom of the course syllabus page, I have added additional materials that link to my YouTube channel. These materials are not required for the course but you are likely to expand your knowledge if you spend some time watching these additional video resources.

Besides the video lectures, the course includes textual resources, links to longer and more detailed videos, and links to the resources on my website. I am also open to any suggestions that you might have and would incorporate them as and when I revise this course. So, please feel free to reach out to me

Who this course is for:

Beginner Level

Psychoanalysis: English Literature

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction3 lectures • 27min

Psychoanalysis: Basic Concepts6 lectures • 22min

Psychoanalysis: Further Explanations4 lectures • 54min

Conclusion1 lecture • 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: