106-403 Reading the Subject: Freud/Lacan/Fiction

Formerly available as 106-072. Students who have completed 106-072 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth-year honours in English or cultural studies, see Honours entry.

The subject provides an introduction to the basic tenets of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and some of the challenges and criticisms they have attracted. It examines the influences of psychoanalysis on representations of subjectivity and identity in 20th century literature, film and television; the uses of psychoanalytic theory for critical interpretation of fictive texts, and the uses of fiction for critical interpretation of psychoanalysis.

Written work totalling 5000 words for 4th year and postgraduate diploma, 6000 words for masters students.

A subject reader will be available.

• J M Coetzee, Foe. Penguin.
• M Foucault, The History of Sexuality (Vol. 1). Random House.
• P Gay (ed), The Freud Reader. Vintage.
• E A Poe, The Purloined Letter. Creative Ed.
• D M Thomas, The White Hotel.
• V Woolf, Mrs Dalloway. Penguin.
• Films, Vertigo; The Terminator; Terminator 2.
• Recommended reading: A Elliott, Psychoanalytic Theory: An Introduction. Blackwell.
• D Evans, An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis. Routledge.
• C S Hall, A Primer of Freudian Psychology. Mentor.
• D Leader and J Groves, Lacan for Beginners. Icon.
• E Wright, Psychoanalytic Criticism: Theory in Practice. Methuen.