A type of literary theory that uses the works of Sigmund Freud and other Psychologists in their textual examinations.
Psychoanalysis is a set of psychological and psychotherapeutic theories and associated techniques, created by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and stemming partly from the clinical work of Josef Breuer and others. Over time, psychoanalysis has been revised and developed in different directions. Freud insisted on retaining the term psychoanalysis for his school of thought, and Adler and Jung accepted this. The Neo-Freudians included Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan. As Celine Surprenant writes, 'Psychoanalytic literary criticism does not constitute a unified field. However, all variants endorse, at least to a certain degree, the idea that literature [...] is fundamentally entwined with the psyche'. The danger is that 'such criticism tends to be reductive, explaining away the ambiguities of works of literature by reference to established psychoanalytic doctrine; and very little of this work retains much influence today'. To see a great work of fiction or a great poem primarily as a psychological case study is often to miss its wider significance and perhaps even the essential artistic experience it should provide. The psychoanalytic literary criticism is influenced by psychoanalysis and the tradition begun by Sigmund Freud. This approach to literary criticism not only rests on the theories of Freud; it may even be said to have begun with Freud, who wrote literary criticism as well as psychoanalytic theory. The first aspect of the psychoanalytic criticism begins with the analysis of a particularly interesting character in a work. psychoanalytical criticism. an approach to criticism or a critical technique that applies the principles, theories and practices of psychoanalysis to literature, both in the analysis of the work and of the author. See also Freudianism. Psychoanalytic literary criticism is literary criticism or literary theory which, in method, concept, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by Sigmund Freud. The danger is that 'such criticism tends to be reductive, explaining away the ambiguities of works of literature by reference to established psychoanalytic doctrine; and very little of this work retains much influence today'. The author's purpose in writing is to gratify secretly some forbidden wish, in particular an infantile wish or desire that has been repressed into the unconscious mind. To discover what the wish is, the psychoanalytic critic employs many of the terms and procedures developed by Freud to analyze dreams. The literal surface of a work is sometimes spoken of as its manifest content and treated as a manifest dream or dream story would be treated by a Freudian analyst. It seems natural to think about literature in terms of dreams. Like dreams, literary works are fictions, inventions of the mind that, al-though based on reality, are by definition not literally true. The object of psychoanalytic literary criticism, at its very simplest, can be the psychoanalysis of the author or of a particularly interesting character in a given work. The danger is that 'such criticism tends to be reductive, explaining away the ambiguities of works of literature by reference to established psychoanalytic doctrine; and very little of this work retains much influence today'. Psychoanalytic Criticism is a type of literary theory that uses the works of Sigmund Freud and other Psychologists in their textual examinations. For Psychoanalytic critics, works of literature are simply another manifestation of the mind s subconscious desires and processes and are subject to the same rules.  The author's purpose in writing is to gratify secretly some forbidden wish, in particular an infantile wish or desire that has been repressed into the unconscious mind. To discover what the wish is, the psychoanalytic critic employs many of the terms and procedures developed by Freud to analyze dreams. The literal surface of a work is sometimes spoken of as its manifest content and treated as a manifest dream or dream story would be treated by a Freudian analyst. Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalytic criticism builds on Freudian theories of psychology. While we don't have the room here to discuss all of Freud's work, a general overview is necessary to explain psychoanalytic literary criticism. The Unconscious, the Desires, and the Defenses. Freud began his psychoanalytic work in the 1880s while attempting to treat behavioral disorders in his Viennese patients. He dubbed the disorders 'hysteria' and began treating them by listening to his patients talk through their problems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalytic_literary_criticism http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-psychoanalytic-criticism-discuss-some-key-373337 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/psychoanalytical+criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalytic_literary_criticism http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~rlbeebe/what_is_psychoanalytic_criticism.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalytic_literary_criticism http://uweb.cas.usf.edu/~dslone/pathfinders/marlow.htm http://www.usask.ca/english/frank/psycrit.htm https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/04/
what is psychoanalytic criticism