A very brief introduction to Literary Theory

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A very brief introduction to Literary Theory
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What is literary theory?

• the systematic account of the nature of
  literature and of the methods for analyzing it
• Is speculative asks questions about literature
  and hypothesizes the answers
• Challenges and reorients thoughts about
  literature
• Serves as a lens through which to read and
  analyze literature

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The effects of theory

• Tries to make people think differently about
  reading, writing, or their experiences
• Questions
• The conception that the meaning produced in a
  work is the same as what the author had in mind
• The idea that writing is an expression whose
  truth lies elsewhere
• The notion of reality

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Different theories

• Also known as schools of thought
• Like a club that thinkers belong to and use as a
  lens through which to interpret literature
• Connect to pessimism/ optimism/ Meliorism
• Orange example

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Our 1st theory Psychoanalytical Theory
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Psychoanalytical theory

• Uses the techniques of psychoanalysis in order to
  interpret literature
• Psychoanalysis form of therapy used to cure
  psychological problems by analyzing the
  interaction of the conscious and the unconscious
  mind
• Based in theories of how the mind, sexuality, and
  instinct function
• Father of Psychoanalysis Freud

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Sigmund Freud

• Austrian psychiatrist
• Unparalleled contributions to the world of
  psychiatry and psychology
• Major ideas about
• The unconscious
• Repression
• Sublimation
• The ego, the superego, and the id

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The unconscious

• The part of the mind beyond the conscious
• Has a strong influence on the individuals
  actions
• Not discovered by Freud but never before did
  people consider the unconscious role on
  individuals decisions and actions

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Repression

• forgetting or ignoring unresolved conflicts,
  secret desires, or traumatic past events
• Pushes these conflicts, desires, and remembrances
  from the conscious to the unconscious

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Sublimation

• When the repressed materials are promoted to
  something greater or pretended to be noble
• For example if an individual has sexual desires
  that he or she cannot cope with so instead
  pursues religion to hide those desires
• A psychological mechanism to protect the
  individual from disease, ridicule, public scorn,
  etc.

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Ego, Superego, and Id

• A 3 part model of the psyche
• ego consciousness
• Perception of reality/ the external world
• Superego conscience
• Like to the police of the mind
• Id unconsciousness
• Internal instinct

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Sexuality and Freud

• Terms to know
• Infantile sexuality the idea that sexuality is
  part of the individual since infancy
• Oedipus Complex males want to be with their
  mothers and kill their fathers
• Libido energy drive associated with sexual
  desire

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What do psychoanalytical critics do?

• Give central importance to the distinction
  between the conscious and the unconscious mind
• The overt content vs. covert content
• Pay attention to unconscious motives and feelings
  of the author and the characters
• Analyze psychoanalytical symptoms in characters

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What do psychoanalytical critics do? (continued)

• Make large-scale applications of psychoanalytical
  concepts to literary history in general
• Identify a psychic context for each literary
  work
• Pays attention to the drama of the individuals
  life or the characters life instead of the
  social drama going on in that point in history

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An example Shakespeares Hamlet

• Hamlets father is murdered by his brother, then
  his mother marries the murderous uncle. Hamlet
  is haunted by his fathers ghost who tells him to
  seek vengeance.
• A psychoanalytical critique will focus on
• The conscious vs. the unconscious
• The unconscious motives of the characters
• Psychoanalytical conditions

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Shakespeares Hamlet

• Hamlet spends a lot of time delaying actions
  why?
• A psychoanalytical critique would say Hamlet
  cannot avenge the crime because he is
  unconsciously guilty of wanting to commit the
  crime himself.
• He has an Oedipus complex, a repressed sexual
  desire for his mother and the consequential wish
  to kill his father