Psychoanalytic+Developments

=Psychoanalytic Development in Modern Art and Poetry=

As modern poetry and art challenged the way we think through language, so to did the emergence of Psychology into the turn of the 20th century. Now within public reach, the symbolic world that generates and directs our thoughts no longer belonged solely to philosophers and mystics. To avoid getting bogged down in all the details of the highly complex field of theories spawning from Freud's //Interpretation//, This page focuses on some key aspects of his work that will allow us to understand key concepts of the peaceandwarpoetics wiki from the psychoanalytic standpoint. In particular, links are provided to:


 * Psychoanalytic View on Metonymy**


 * Psychoanalytic View on Alienation**

However, there are other connections to this theory on other pages.

Provided below is a summary of key concepts of Psychoanalytic Theory that will allow the reader to gain better understanding of the topics to which it relates.


 * Psychoanalytic Theory**

With Sigmund Freud's 1900 release of //The Interpretation of Dreams//, his theory of psychoanalysis brought the occult world of the unconscious mind into the scientific limelight. Freud theorized about the unconscious mind that functions below the level of our awareness. His use of free association talk therapy and dream interpretation was said to reveal manifest content and latent content. This content consists of memories, thoughts, desires, and fears that are suppressed from our consciousness. The unconscious mind is said to be an instinctual one, primarily controlled by the pleasure principle (sexual drive), and the aggressive drive. Both of these drives are the aims of the //libido//, which seeks gratification of impulses. As an infant learns to delay gratification of impulses due to social and physical limitations, the unconscious must learn to handle its impulses with respect to the //reality principle// that inhibits it. These impulses are redirected through //ego// (the reality principle part of the mind) through various //defenses//. //Repression// is well known in its relation to psychoanalysis, but there are other ego defenses which Freud and other psychoanalysts used to understand the mind through therapy, as well as through art and literature. These defenses are:

//Projection//: identifying your impulse as belonging to another person

//Symbolization//: “shifting the object of a drive to something else that can stand as a metaphorical or **metonymic** substitute for it.” [Richter 1107]

Four more terms should be described that will help make more sense of this theory’s significance for art and literature. What follows is the summary of the terms from the following text:


 * //Manifest content// are those things that are perceived in a dream. Figures, symbols, narration, and dialogue we experience in dreams, are recorded much like a movie.
 * //Latent content// is what Freud called “dream thoughts” [Freud, “Dream” 500]. These are the associations which can be derived through dream interpretation. These associations spring from suppressed material of the unconscious, which are ciphered into manifest content, to be deciphered in a manner to convoluted to explain here. More simply, it is that meaning ascribed to dream symbols that are not obvious on rudimentary examination.
 * //Condensation// is the unconscious process of encoding latent content into nonidentical manifest content. This forces us to dissect the manifest symbols into interrelated elements in order to find the latent content.
 * //Displacement// occurs when a disproportionately high value is placed on a piece of manifest content, which distracts the dreamer/reader from some parts of the latent content.

Condensation and Displacement are the two key processes considered in dream interpretation. These defenses did not just apply to dreams for Freud, but also to the process of creative writing. These are the two governing factors describing the process of **symbolization** undertaken by the unconscious, in order to signify one thing for another. Several practitioners of Freudian psychoanalysis, as well as writers outside the psychiatric community have further expounded on the theory that Freud himself developed throughout his life. These are just a few key figures in the field who have a close bearing to the poets and authors discussed on this site. [1,2,6]

//Sigmund Freud// saw this alienation as primarily stemming from the perceived or feared loss of the ideal phallus, as it relates first and foremost to the mother, which is where we get our Oedipus or Electra Complex from. Our instincts and forbidden thought forms are separated from our awareness, but attempt to communicate with them through symbolization, or by projecting our fantasies through an idealized other. In literature, we see symbolization not just in the creation of our literary elements, but in the literary devices we use to convey something of a significance that extends beyond direct representation. [1,6] Let’s not forget that Freud’s general principles were primarily designed to cure ‘neuroses’ and ‘psychoses’, and not to create literary theory. So what is important, is that Freud identified sources of alienation in the individual. And the ultimate source of that alienation was Mother- which oddly enough, is ‘My other’, neglecting the ‘y’.

//Carl Jung// was a student of Freud who split off to form his own brand of ‘analytic psychology’, which shifted focus from curing mental disease. Jung sought to bring a method into the world that would allow all people to achieve harmony through the process of individuation. This process was a lifelong quest to achieve unity of the fragmented self, by connecting with archetypes stored in the “collective unconscious” memory of the human race. These archetypes were said to constantly reappear through dreams, literature, and art. [5]

//Jacques Lacan// did even more to alienate himself from his contemporaries, stemming from his belief that Freud’s theory belonged to the field of philosophy, rather than medicine. Though believing himself the keeper of the true Freudian orthodoxy, he was kicked out of the International Psychoanalytic Association for “unorthodox analytical practices” [Richter 1122]. Be that as it may, his musings on language, perception, and alienation could provide some insight into modern poetry and art. In fact, Lacan maintained interest and influence in surrealism. Diving deep into structural linguistics, Lacan constructs a metaphysical branch of Freudianism that crosses into some of the subjects that are explored on modern poetics... wiki. [3,4,7]

Summary of 4 important ideas raised by Lacan:

[4]
 * 1) Existentialism (as Lacan relates it to Sartre) has implanted the illusion of the ‘I’ as an autonomous, distinct, and Real being. Our ego-ideal is no longer an illusion to hold our instinctive selves in check with the (Social) 'Reality' Principle. Being as One and Whole (‘O’ is a clue), the existential narcissist becomes slave to this True Self, with disastrous consequences.
 * 2) These same disastrous consequences result from what Lacan calls a “deadening of passions.” He leaves it to the reader to imagine the ways in which society deadens our passions, but suggests that we can measure the proximity of a societal psychotic break, by the madness housed in the its institutions.
 * 3) “place no trust in altruistic feeling”, which serves to mask the aggressive drive of “the philanthropist, the idealist, the pedagogue, and even the reformer.”
 * 4) Lacan’s answer to the problem of alienation is wrapped in a context that utilizes the symbol (object?) of the skull. In his concluding statements, we get an answer that stands between Freud's championing of "the uncanny", and //solve et coagula et solve.// But you can count on the fact that you will die.

Sources Cited:

Images are used in accordance with fair use practices. If you hold copyright to an image, and do not agree that its use accords with fair use practices, please contact the wiki's creator and organizer. Richter, David H., ed. //The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends//. 3rd ed. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.

1. Freud, Sigmund. “The Dream-Work //from// The Interpretation of Dreams.” Richter 500-514.

2. Freud, Sigmund. “[Creative Writers and Daydreaming].” Richter 509-514.

3. Lacan, Jacques. “The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason since Freud.” Richter 1136-39.

4. Lacan, Jacques. “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience.” Richter 1123-1128.

5. Richter, David H. “[Part] 4- Psychoanalytic Theory and Criticism.” Richter 1106-1111.

6. Richter, David H. “Carl Gustav Jung.” Richter 542-543.

7. Richter, David H. “Jacques Lacan.” Richter 1122-1123.

8. Richter, David H. “Sigmund Freud.” Richter 497-500.