Psychoanalysis, Feminism, Literature 3301-2ST-LK-KON004
The aim of the course is to introduce the basic concepts of Freudian psychoanalysis and to demonstrate their continued validity and usefulness for a number of disciplines, such as literary and cultural studies, the analysis of pop culture (the cinema), political criticism, philosophy, etc. In the first part of the semester students read a selection of basic writings by Sigmund Freud (from his early writings on hysteria through fragments of Interpretation of Dreams to excerpts from the later works such as Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Civilization and its Discontents). Discussions of Freud's writings are accompanied by analysis of selected literary and cultural texts (stories by Edgar Allan Poe, movies or fragments of movies by David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Ridley Scott). In the second part of the semester students are required to become familiar with the writings of selected authors who use Freudian concepts in their work redefining them and enriching psychoanalysis with new discoveries. These writers include Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Slavoy Zizek, Judith Butler and/or others. Among the most important questions discussed in the course are: the problem of sexual difference as defined by psychoanalysis (identity as the intersection of nature and culture), the place of language in human psyche (Lacan's notion of 'the agency of the letter in the unconscious') the uses of psychoanalysis in literary and cultural studies, feminist psychoanalysis (for instance, the notion of ecriture feminine), queer theory and the application of the Freudian paradigm in political criticism (Slavoy Zizek, elements of Marxism). The basic terminology includes: the unconscious, the drives, subject formation, symptom, the uncanny, alienation, Lacan's notion of the 'mirror stage' and his three 'cognitive registers' (symbolic, imaginary, real), object petit-a, trauma, and 'the letter of the body'.
Type of course
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
Students will be able to:
K_W01 - Identify and characterize on an advanced level the place and status of psychoanalysis and feminist criticism within the humanities
K_W02 - Describe on an advanced level the current trends in literature studies within psychoanalytical and feminist criticism
K_W04 - Characterise on an advanced level the principles of research design in literary studies with special focus on the application of methods and tools of psychoanalytical and feminist criticism
K_W05 - Identify the notions and principles pertinent to intellectual property and copyright
Abilities
Students will be able to:
K_U01 - Apply advanced terminology and notions pertinent to the discipline
K_U02 - Apply advanced research methodology within literary and culture studies and English studies, respecting ethical norms and copyright law
K_U04 - Analyze linguistic, literary and cultural phenomena and draw generalizations on their basis in the context of psychoanalysis and feminist criticism
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Social competences
Students will be ready to:
K_K05 - Participate in academic and cultural undertakings offered via various media
Education at language level B2+
Assessment criteria
Active participation in class discussions, short written assignments in the course of the semester, final test
Absences allowed - 3
Bibliography
Culler, Jonathan. On Deconstruction. Cornell University Press, 1982.
Derrida, Jacques. Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression. Trans. Eric Prenowitz. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Dybel, Paweł; Michał Głowiński. Psychoanaliza i Literatura. Wybór, redakcja i opracowanie. (Gdańsk: słowo/obraz terytoria, 2001).
Fink, Bruce. The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance. Princeton University Press, 1995.
Freud, Sigmund. Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Trans. James Strachey. New York: Liveright, 1950.
Freud, Sigmund. Interpretation of Dreams. Trans. A. A. Brill, Wordsworth Classics, 1997.
Freud, Sigmund. The Uncanny. trans. David Mclintock, intr. Hugh Haughton. Penguin, UK, 2003.
Gay, Peter. The Freud Reader. New York, London: Norton, 1989 (excerpts from: "Anna O", Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Civilization and its Discontents).
Irigaray, Luce. This Sex Which is not One. Trans. Catherine Porter. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985.
Lacan, Jacques, Ecrits. Trans. Bruce Fink. New York, London: Norton, 2004.
Laplanche, Jean; J. B. Pontalis, Słownik Psychoanalizy. Tłum. Ewa Modzelewska, Ewa Wojciechowska. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, 1996.
Muller, John P,; William J. Richardson, eds. The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida, and Psychoanalytic Reading. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.
Nasiłowska, Anna, red. Ciało i tekst. Feminizm w literaturoznawstwie. Warszawa: IBL, 2001.
Oliver, Kelly ed. French Feminism Reader. Rowman and Littlefield, 2000.
Shepherdson, Charles. Vital Signs: Nature, Culture, Psychoanalysis. New York, London, Routledge: 2000.
Žižek, Slavoy. Looking Awry: An Introduction to Lacan Through Popular Culture. Cambridge, Mass. London, Engl.: MIT Press, 1992.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: