Psychoanalysis and Its Literary Cultures

3 units

This course examines interactions between texts from the domains of literature and psychoanalysis. We will read theory and literature side by side, in order to ask the following questions: Does the relationship between literary text and theory necessarily entail the subjection of literature to analysis, or can one, as Pierre Bayard asks, apply literature to psychoanalysis? What can psychoanalytic readings tell us more broadly about the act of reading? How can psychoanalysis enrich our sense of the ethical import of reading and writing, and how can literature challenge psychoanalytic goals and values? In terms of psychoanalytic authors, we will focus on Freud, Lacan, Klein, Winnicott, and Bayard. In terms of literature, we will range widely from Sophocles to Henry James.