Literature in Psychoanalysis: A Reader

Since its foundation a little over a century ago, psychoanalysis has been fascinated by literature. Freud himself was fond of saying that poets were there before him, hinting that the findings of psychoanalysis were foreshadowed in works of literature. Sophocles's Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare's Hamlet are only the most famous literary works around which Freud developed his ideas - but literature appears 'in' psychoanalysis in the shape of Freud's brilliant and inventive storytelling, as well as in explicit theoretical themes.Literature in Psychoanalysis explores the ongoing dialogue between literature and psychoanalysis in contemporary essays that revisit and revise classic Freudian positions (such as Freud's and Jones's reading of Hamlet, and Freud's account of the 'uncanny') and consider literary treatments of the analytic (including Nicolas Abraham's remarkable 'Sixth Act' to Hamlet and Hélène Cixous's feminist dramatization of Freud's 'Dora' case history in Portrait of Dora). The volume also presents the use of literary terms in the post-Freudian history of Freud's 'Wolf Man' through the stunning work of Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok on the Wolf Man's buried 'magic word'. Resisting the idea of 'applying' psychoanalytic theory to literature, Steve Vine's collection, along with his helpful introductory notes to each section and essay, shows the ways in which literature and psychoanalysis are involved with each other. It is an invaluable resource for teachers and students of literature and theory alike, and for all those with a general interest in the interaction between literature and psychoanalysis.