The psychoanalytic literary theory
In this course, the student becomes familiar with one of the most important schools of modern criticism. The psychoanalytic literary theory enables the student to probe deep into the psychic forces that determine a literary text. Through this course, the student will regard the literary text as a projection of the author's desires, neuroses, childhood traumas. The psychoanalytic theory course is divided into three sessions, in each session, the student learns about concepts and methods of analysis employed by the three major figures of the psychoanalysis school. The first session will be devoted to the father of psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud. The student will examine important concepts of the Freudian theory: repression, the unconscious, the interpretation of dreams, theory of instincts, the structure of the mind, the psychosexual stages of development, and the oedipus complex. In the second session, the student will explore the Lacanian theory. The student will examine differences and similarities between Freud and Jacques Lacan's theories. The mirror stage is considered to be Lacan's major contribution to psychoanalysis. The third and the last session is dedicated to one of Freud's students: Carl Gustave Jung. The student will touch upon concepts such, collective unconscious and the archetype.