English 171: Literature and Psychology
“The poet is the better psychologist, for he is swayed rather by sentiment than by reason, and always treats his subject in a partial fashion. He cannot discern deep shadows, because he is dazed by the blazing light and overcome by the benign heat of the subject.” --R. von Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia Sexualis
Dr Diane Long Hoeveler
247 Coughlin
288-3466
Office Hours: T and Th 10-11 and 2-3 and by appt.
Class meets T and Th 12:35-1:50
Diane.hoeveler@marquette.edu
Required readings : The Freud Reader , ed. Peter Gay (Norton) [FR]
Peter Schaffer, Equus (Penguin)
John Pielmeier, Agnes of God: A Drama (Samuel French)
The Classic Fairy Tales , ed. Maria Tatar (Norton) [CFT]
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Random House)
Anais Nin, Seduction of the Minotaur (Swallow Press)
Course packet [CP] of readings and supplementary materials available for purchase at Bookmarq
Additional information always available on the course's D2L site
COURSE OBJECTIVES: to critique literature using a variety of psychoanalytical methods; to become familiar with a number of key psychological texts and concepts and then to be able to apply them to an analysis of literary works.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: an in-class essay midterm exam (25% of final grade); a 7-page research paper (25% of final grade); another research paper or project using film (25% of final grade); and a take-home final essay exam (25% of final grade).
COURSE POLICIES: Papers must be typed and double spaced. Late papers are not accepted except under extenuating circumstances. Extensions should be cleared with me beforehand.
PLAGIARISM: Using someone else's thoughts, ideas, or language in a paper without citing the source is plagiarism (this includes my formal lectures to the class). If in doubt, acknowledge your source. Departmental policy states that students caught plagiarizing will fail the course and be brought before an academic hearing board.
ATTENDANCE POLICY: This course subscribes to the MU College of Arts and Sciences attendance policy. After five absences your final grade will be lowered one-half grade. After three more absences it drops another half-grade. After a total of nine absences you will be withdrawn from the course.
GRADING SYSTEM: 92-100 = A; 88-91 = AB; 82-87 = B; 78-81 = BC; 70-77 =C
Some of the assigned readings, as well as specific criteria for writing assignments as well as samples of research projects are available in the CP.
Daily Schedule:
August 29: Introduction to course: readings, theoretical approaches, assignments and course objectives [video: “Freud”]
August 31: Fairy Tales and the stages of psychosexual development: The Oral stage: “ Hansel and Gretel ” [CFT 184-90]; Bettelheim [CFT 273-80]; Shavit [CFT 317-31]; Freud, “ The Family Romance ” [FR 297-300]; also see chart on stages of psychosexual development in CP and on D2L
September 5: The anal stage : “ Little Red Riding Hood ” [CFT 3-24] and video; “Donkeyskin” [109-17] and video; Freud, “On Dreams ” [FR 142-71]; Freud, “ The Interpretation of Dreams ” [FR 129-41]
Sept 7: The Latency Stage : “Sleeping Beauty” [CP]; “Snow White” [CFT 74-89]; Gilbert and Gubar [CFT 291-96]
Sept 12: The Phallic Stage: “Maiden without Hands” [CP]; “Jack and the Beanstalk” [CP]; “The Little Mermaid” [CFT 216-32]; Freud, “ The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex ” [FR 661-65]
Sept 14: The Genital Stage: “Beauty and the Beast” [CFT 25-41]; “Bluebeard” and “The Robber Bridegroom” [CFT 144-54]; Tatar [CFT 364-72] and video “On Fairytales”
Sept 19: CASE STUDIES : E. T. A. Hoffman, “ The Sandman ” {VIDEO}; and Freud, “ The Uncanny ” [both in CP]
Sept 21: Hoffman, “ The Mines at Falun ,” [CP]; Freud, “ On the Universal Tendency to Debasement in the Sphere of Love ” [FR 384-399]; and Freud, “ Character and Anal Eroticism ” [FR 293-96]
Sept 26: Tieck, “The Blonde Eckbert,” and Freud, “On Narcissism” [CP]; and “ Screen Memories ” [FR 117-28]
Sept 28: Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “Bernice,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” [all in CP], and Freud, “ Mourning and Melancholia ” [FR 584-88]
Oct 3: Poe, “William Wilson,” “The Black Cat,” and Joyce Carol Oates, “The White Cat” [both in CP], and Freud, “ A Child is being beaten ,” also see handouts in CP on “A Child is being beaten”
Oct 5: Homosocial Bonding: Eichendorff, “The Marble Statue” [CP] and video clip of “Jules and Jim”; Freud, “The Theme of the Three Caskets ” [FR 514-21]; also see handout on Sedgwick in CP; PAPER #1 DUE
Oct 10: Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market” [CP]; Freud, “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality ” [FR 239-92]; Freud, “ Beyond the Pleasure Principle” [FR 594-625]
Oct 12: TRAUMA NARRATIVES : Equus , act one; and Freud, “Totem and Taboo @ [FR 481-513]; TAKE-HOME MIDTERM EXAM DUE
Oct 17: Equus , act two and video showing; and Freud, “ Repetition, Remembering and Working Through ” [CP]
Oct 19: MIDSEMESTER BREAK
Oct 24: Pulmeier, “Agnes of God,” act one; Freud, “ The Ego and the Id ” [FR 628-60]
Oct 31: VIDEOS of both “Agnes of God” and “Jolly Corner”
Nov. 2: Henry James, “ The Jolly Corner ” [CP]; and Freud, “ Instincts and their Vicissitudes ” and “ Repression ” and “ The Unconscious ” [FR 562-83]
Nov 7: Gilman, “Yellow Wallpaper” [CP]
Nov 9: video of “Yellow Wallpaper”
Nov. 14: STORIES ABOUT PSYCHOTHERAPY : Updike, “My love has dirty fingernails,” and Guest, “Ordinary People” [both in CP]
Nov. 16: Lindner, “The Girl who couldn't stop eating,” Updike, “Fairy Godfathers,” and Oates, “Psychiatric Services” [CP]
Nov. 21: MEMORY: “Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep?”
Nov 28: “Sheep” and video of “Bladerunner”; PAPER #2 DUE
Nov 30: Nin, Seduction of the Minotaur
Dec 5: Nin, conclusion
Dec 7: Course evaluation, summation
POSSIBLE TOPICS FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS:
Fairy tales: choose a constellation of fairy tales and psychoanalyze them (Bruno Bettelheim = s book on fairy tales is the key research text here)
The Oedipus Complex: examine in Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Freud
The Electra complex: Sophocles, Freud, and O = Neill
The Double in Otto Rank's theory and Poe's “William Wilson”
Analyze “Yellow Wallpaper” as an example of postpartum depression
Analyze “Goblin Market” as an oral fantasy
Memory in the SF film “Dark City”
Different approaches to feminine psychology (contrast the theories of Marie Bonaparte, Melanie Klein, and Helene Deutsch to those of Freud and Jung)
Examine the phenomenon of A beating fantasies @ and apply to literary works
The film “Jules and Jim” and its adaptation in “The Marble Statue”
A comparison of Poe's “Black Cat” and Joyce Carol Oates's story “The White Cat”
Examine the phenomenon of abuse fantasies and apply them to literary works (prevalence of incest, rape, torture, etc): Equus or Agnes of God are possibilities
Psychoanalyze the films of Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, Woody Allen?
More psychoanalyzing of Poe, Hoffman, Shelley, Stevenson
The neo-Freudians (Kristeva, Cixous, Lacan, etc) and their application to literary works
The neo-Jungians (see Our Ladies of Darkness by Joseph Adriano for a discussion of them)
Delve deeper into the theory of how fantasies work as sources for literary works (Jean LaPlanche is our source here; see handouts in CP)
Your choice: just clear it with me before you begin gathering material or writing
ENGLISH 171: LITERATURE AND PSYCHOLOGY
TAKE HOME EXAM QUESTIONS
DUE IN MY OFFICE (COUGHLIN 247) NO LATER THAN NOON ON DECEMBER 13
You have three options here. Choose one and submit at least five typed pages (please, no more and ideally no less).
OPTION ONE: ANALYTICAL LITERARY OPTION
Apply the four-part interpretive approach (formalist, ideological, historical, and psychological) to ONE story or novella we have read in class in order to demonstrate your mastery of literary interpretation skills. Either Androids or Minotaur would work very well for this option, as both are particularly dense and rich novellas with a variety of content to analyze.
OPTION TWO: PSYCHOLOGICAL OPTION
One of the goals of this course is to familiarize you with psychoanalytical concepts (primarily drawn from Freud) and to apply them to literary texts. Choose two or three of Freud's major essays or concepts and apply them to one of the stories we have read this semester (“Yellow Wallpaper” or “The Girl who couldn't stop eating” would work well here).
OPTION THREE: CREATIVE OPTION
Place two characters or authors in dialogue with each other about one of the central issues in the class: Poe and Hoffman about the nature of evil; Eichendorff and Tieck about the nature of male bonding; Nin and Dick about the nature of desire; Agnes and Alan about the nature of God; Freud and the Grimm brothers on the nature of fantasy. Use your imagination, but write a dialogue (like a play script), focused and tight, and not more than five pages (please).
ANOTHER SYLLABUS:
English 171: Literature and Psychology
Dr Diane Long Hoeveler
247 Coughlin
288-3466
Office Hours: M and W,
Diane.hoeveler@marquette.edu
Required readings: The Freud Reader, ed. Peter Gay (Norton)
The Essential Jung, ed. Anthony Storr (
Mary, Maria by Mary Wollstonecraft and Mathilda by Mary Shelley (Penguin)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert L. Stevenson (
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (Norton)
The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies (Penguin)
Other theoretical readings and
fairy tales are available through the Blackboard site.
ON RESERVE: Norman
Holland,
Benjamin Nelson, ed. Freud and the
20th Century [BF/173/F85/N37]
COURSE OBJECTIVES: to critique
literature using a variety of psychoanalytical methods; to become familiar with a number of
key psychological texts and concepts and then to be able to apply them to
literary works.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: an
in-class essay midterm exam (25% of final grade); a 10-page research paper (25%
of final grade); a group-oral report to the class based on research (25% of
final grade); and a take-home final essay exam (25% of final grade).
ATTENDANCE POLICY: This course subscribes to the MU
GRADING SYSTEM: 92-100 = A;
88-91 = AB; 82-87 = B; 78-81 = BC; 70-77 =C
Some of the assigned readings, as well as specific
criteria for writing assignments and oral presentations are available on the
blackboard site. You must register for
the Blackboard site in order to receive class emails.
Daily Schedule:
August 26: Introduction to
course: readings, theoretical approaches, assignments and course objectives
August 28: In the Beginning: The Fairy Tale: read AThe Handless Maiden,@ AThe Yellow Dwarf,@ AThe Courageous Girl,” [all on
Blackboard site]; and Freud, AThe Family Romance@ [FR 297-300] and AThe Dissolution of the Oedipus
Complex@ [FR 661-65]
August 30: AHansel and Gretel,@ ALittle Red Riding Hood,@ [all on Blackboard site] and Freud AOn Dreams@ [FR 142-71] Freud AThe Interpretation of Dreams@ [FR 129-41]
Sept 4: ASnow White and the Seven Dwarfs,@ ASleeping Beauty,@ [on Blackboard site] and Jung, 125-28
Sept 9: E. T. A. Hoffman, AThe Sandman@ and Freud, AThe Uncanny@ [both available through
Blackboard site]
Sept 11: Hoffman, AThe Mines at Falun@ [on Blackboard] and Jung,
129-190
Sept 16: Freud, AScreen Memories@ [FR 117-28] and Freud, AOn the Universal Tendency to
Debasement in the Sphere of Love@ [FR 384-399]
Sept 18: .Shelley, AThe Mourner@ [on Blackboard] and Freud, AMourning and Melancholia@ [FR 584-88]
Sept 23: Shelley, Mathilda,
first half and Freud, AA Child is being beaten@ [on Blackboard]
Sept 25: conclude Mathilda
and Freud, AThe Theme of the Three Caskets@ [FR 514-21] Freud, AAnna O,@ [FR 60-77]
Sept 30: Freud, ADora,@ [FR 172-238]; AThree Essays on the Theory of
Sexuality@ [FR 239-92]; Freud,
ABeyond
the Pleasure Principle,@ [FR 594-625]
Oct 2: Objective component of midterm exam;
take-home component of the midterm exam due as you enter class
Oct 7: Poe, AFall of the House of Usher@ [on Blackboard] and Freud, ACharacter and
Anal Eroticism@ [FR 293-96]
Oct 9: Poe, AThe Purloined Letter@ and Lacan,
ASeminar on the Purloined Letter@ [both available on Blackboard]
Oct 14: More Poe:
AThe
Tell-Tale Heart@ [on Blackboard] and Freud, ATotem and Taboo@ [FR 481-513]; Freud, ARepetition, Remembering and Working
Through@ [on Blackboard]
Oct 16: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, first half
and Jung, 191-225;
Freud, AThe Rat Man@ [FR 309-50];
Freud, AThe Wolf Man@ [FR 400-28]
Oct 21: conclude Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and
Freud, AThe
Ego and the Id@ [FR 628-60]
Oct 23: Freud, ASplitting of the Ego in the Process of
Defense@ [on Blackboard] and Jung, 230-87; Henry James, AThe Jolly Corner@ [on Blackboard]
Oct 25: James, AThe Turn of the Screw,@
first half; and Freud, ACharacter Types,@ [FR 589-93]
Oct 28: conclude Turn
of the Screw; and Freud, AInstincts and their Vicissitudes@ and ARepression@ and AThe Unconscious@ [FR 562-83]
Oct 30: Davies, Fifth Business, ch. I and II
Nov 4: Davies, Fifth Business, ch. III, IV, V, VI
Nov 6: Davies, The
Manticore, ch. I, and
Jung, 66-86
Nov 11: Davies, The
Manticore, ch. II, and
Jung, 87-124
Nov 13: Davies, The Manticore, ch. III, and Jung, 229-287
Nov 18: Jung, 299-330
Nov 20: Jung, 331-45
Nov 25: Davies, The
World of Wonders, ch. I
Dec 2: Davies, The
World of Wonders, ch. II Jung, 349-404
Dec 4: Davies, The
World of Wonders, ch. III
POSSIBLE TOPICS FOR GROUP PRESENTATIONS
Fairy tales: choose a constellation of fairy tales and
psychoanalyze them (Bruno
Bettelheim=s book on fairy tales is the key research text here)
The Oedipus Complex:
examine in Sophocles, Shakespeare and Freud
The Electra complex: Sophocles,
Freud, and O=Neill
Explore recent cognitive
theories of the mind as a story-making machine (Professor Ed de St Aubin is your resource here in the Psychology Department)
Different approaches to
feminine psychology (contrast the theories of Marie Bonaparte and Helene
Deutsch to those of Freud and Jung)
Examine the phenomenon of Abeating fantasies@ and apply to literary works
Examine the phenomenon of abuse
fantasies and apply to literary works (prevalence of incest, rape, torture,
etc)
Psychoanalyze the films of
Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, Woody Allen?
More psychoanalyzing of Poe,
Hoffman, Shelley, Stevenson
The neo-Freudians (Kristeva, Cixous, Lacan, etc) and their application to literary works
The neo-Junginans
(see Our Ladies of Darkness by Joseph Adriano for a discussion of them)
Delve deeper into the theory of
how fantasies work as sources for literary works (Jean LaPlanche
is our source here)
Your choice: just clear it with me before you begin
gathering material
ANOTHER SYLLABUS FOR LITERATURE AND PSYCHOLOGY:
ENGLISH 171 //
PSYCHOLOGY 196
Fall, 2004
Tuesdays and
Thursdays
Diane Long Hoeveler Ed
de St. Aubin
247 Coughlin 496
Shroeder Health Complex
288-3466 288-2143
Diane.hoeveler@marquette.edu ed.destaubin@marquette.edu
This is an
interdisciplinary course that integrates Literature and Psychology. Students will learn to interpret literature
through a psychoanalytical lens. At the
same time, however, we will also draw from the emerging field of Narrative
Psychology in order to treat human lives (life stories) as texts and apply the
techniques of literary analysis to a psychological interpretation of
these. Several key processes (e.g.,
hermeneutics) and concepts (e.g., sub-text) are common to both Literature and
Psychology. We will examine these to
discover the distinctions and similarities of each as employed by the
disciplines of Literature and Psychology.
Upon completion of this
course students should have:
1) the skills required to analyze literature according to
the four dominant methods of interpretation:
formalist, historical, ideological, and psychoanalytical;
2) knowledge of the procedures employed by scholars who apply
psychological/psychoanalytical insight to the interpretation of literary works;
3) knowledge of the
theories, concepts, and methods discussed in Narrative Psychology;
4) skills to employ
literary techniques in making sense out of human lives as “texts”;
5) a complete
understanding of this intersection of Literature and Psychology, including
disciplinary boundaries and distinctions as well as the strengths and
weaknesses of these approaches.
30% Research Paper: Psychoanalyzing Literature (see primary trait assessment instrument)
30% Class
Presentation: A Literary Look at Human
Lives
30% Interview
Project: Integrating Psychology and
Literature
10% Class
Participation
92-100 = A 88-91
= AB 82-87 = B 78-81 = BC
72-77 = C 68-71
= CD 60-67 = D ≤59 =
F
August 31: Introduction to course: readings, theoretical approaches, assignments and course objectives
September 2: In the Beginning: The Fairy Tale: read “Donkey-Skin,” (38-46); “The
Three Little Birds,” (302-305); “Hansel and Gretel” (711-16); and Freud, “The Family Romance” [FR
297-300] and “The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex” [FR 661-65]
September 7: read “Bluebeard” and “The Robber Bridegroom”
(736-41); “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Little Red Cap”(745-50);
and Freud “On Dreams” [FR 142-71] [APPLY
TECHNIQUES OF FORMALIST LITERARY CRITICISM]
September 9: read “Dionigia and
the King of England,” “The Maiden without hands,” and “The Maiden without
hands” (507-24); Freud “The Interpretation of Dreams” [FR 129-41]
September 14: Ludwig Tieck, “The
Blonde Eckbert,” “The Runenberg”
[on Blackboard]; and Freud, “A Special Type of Choice of Object Made by Men” [APPLY TECHNIQUES
OF HISTORICAL LITERARY CRITICISM]
September 16:
E. T. A. Hoffman, “The Sandman” and Freud, “The Uncanny” [both available
through Blackboard site]
September 21: Poe, “Fall of the House of Usher” [on
Blackboard]; “The Tell-Tale Heart” [on Blackboard] and Freud, “Totem and
Taboo” [FR 481-513]; “Repetition, Remembering and Working Through” [on
Blackboard] [APPLY TECHNIQUES OF
IDEOLOGICAL LITERARY CRITICISM]
September 23: Shelley, Frankenstein
first half; Freud, “On the Universal Tendency to Debasement in the Sphere
of Love” (387-400)
September 28: Shelley, Frankenstein,
to conclusion, and Freud, “On Beating Fantasies” [on Blackboard]
September 30: Shaffer, Equus first half; and Freud, “The
Ego and the Id” [FR 628-60] [APPLY TECHNIQUES OF PSYCHOANALYTICAL LITERARY
CRITICISM]
October 5: Shaffer, Equus to conclusion; and Freud,
“Beyond the Pleasure Principle” [FR, 594-625]
October 7: Research Paper: Psychoanalyzing Literature due
as you enter class. No reading
assignment for today. We will begin
discussing the next projects and outline the methods by which one conducts a
meaningful life story interview.
October 12: The Narrated Self.
Dan P. McAdams (2001). “The psychology of life stories.” In Review of General Psychology, 5 (2), 100-122.
Ochs, Elinor
and Capps, Lisa (1996). “Narrating the self.”
In Annual
Review of Anthropology, 25, 19-43.
Tilmann Habermas and Susan Bluck (2000). “Getting a life: The emergence of the life story in adolescence.” Psychological Bulletin, 126 (5), 748-769.
October 19: Narrative Knowing.
Bertram J. Cohler and Thomas R. Cole (1996). “Studying older lives: Reciprocal acts of telling and listening.”
In Birren et.al.
(Editors) Aging and Biography (pages 61-76).
Donald Polkinghorne
(1996). “Narrative
knowing and the study of lives.” In Birren et.al. (Editors) Aging and Biography (pages 77-99).
October 21: Midterm Break, no class.
October 26: Narrative Remembering.
Michael Ross and Anne E. Wilson (2000). “Constructing and appraising past selves.” In
Dan Schacter and Elaine Scarry
(editors) Memory, Brain, and Belief (pages 231-258).
John A. Robinson and Leslie R. Taylor (1998).
“Autobiographical memory and self-narratives: A tale of two stories.” In Thompson et. al. Autobiographical Memory: Theoretical and Applied Perspectives.
Elizabeth Loftus (2001). “Imagining the past.” The Psychologist, 14 (11), 584-587.
October 28: Arthur:
A Case Discussion.
November 2: Narratives from the Edge 1.
Rebecca Jones (2002).
“’That’s very rude, I shouldn’t be telling you that’: Older women talking about sex.” In Narrative
Inquiry, 12 (1), 121-143.
P.J.
McGann (1999). “Skirting
the gender normal divide: A tomboy life
story.” In Mary Romero and
Abigail Stewart (Editors) Women’s Untold Stories: Breaking Silence, Talking Back, Voicing
Complexity (pages 105-124).
November 4: Narratives from the Edge 2.
Amy Schulz, Faye Knoki, and
Ursula Knoji-Wilson (1999). “’How would
you write about that?’: Identity, language, and knowledge in the
narratives of two Navajo women.” In Mary
Romero and Abigail Stewart (Editors) Women’s Untold Stories: Breaking Silence, Talking Back, Voicing Complexity
(pages 174-191).
ThaoMee Xiong and