Recent Trends in Psychoanalysis: A Survey with Emphasis on Psychological Criticism in English Literature and Related Areas

Abstract

The present survey is, almost exclusively, concerned with studies published in English after 1960. I have tried to distinguish between basic works-signalled by one asterisk-and seminal works which may also serve as introductions to the psychoanalytic approach-signalled by two asterisks. The third part of this survey deals with the social sciences. The fact that it is highly personal was inevitable in view of the broad range of topics I wished to cover and the lack of truly fundamental and up-to-date studies in most of those areas. Such a sectiqn is nonetheless included because of my belief in the need for versatility in present-day literary criticism. The social sciences are in a state of flux; it is typical, for instance, that Roman Jakobson's phonological papers should have influenced Claude L6vi-Strauss's anthropological constructs which, in turn, have prompted new research in narrative studies. Similarly, the structural studies of myth by noted English anthropologist Edmund Leach (Genesis as Myth, Jonathan Cape, 1969) foreground interpretations which could have been reached by a purely psychoanalytic methodology. But confrontation of the two approaches is illuminating and, to an extent, supports the validity of the conclusions arrived at. Finally, analyses such as the ones written by Leach implicitly throw light on the role of mythopoetic aspects of literature which should be taken into account by anyone using a psychological approach. To avoid misunderstanding, the scope of this survey should be defined in more detail. It is the result of some five years of research. Complete sets of all Englishlanguage journals devoted exclusively to were consulted, including those which have ceased publication. Several psychiatric reviews which often carry psychoanalytic studies were also consulted, but no claim to completeness is made in this area. To the best of my knowledge, all books and monographs published in the field of and literature were perused or read, as were the majority of books in the field of psychoanalytic theory-though not, for example, psychoanalytic psychotherapy. On the other hand, the word psychoanalysis is used by certain schools of thought which have given up adherence, or never adhered, to the basic principles of Freudian psychology. Such schools are not represented here. Neither are books by authors whose understanding of is, in my opinion, inadequate or who are hostile to it. It did not seem fitting, for instance, to include Gaston Bachelard's Psychoanalysis of Fire or Jack Spector's Aesthetics of Freud-both titles being misnomers. Though they may be of interest in their own right, they teach us little about and have, therefore, no place in this survey.