Psychoanalytic theory really arose with Freud's initial interpretations of human dreams, and says that literary texts express the unconscious desires or wishes of the author as well as their anxieties. In other words, the literary work is a creation of the author's own neuroses, or are deep projections of the author's hidden feelings. This can be expressed through dreams, symbols, manifestations, individual character actions, or conscious decisions of the character. This theory seeks to unveil deep, unresolved conflicts, emotions and guilt's that the subconscious brings to light. The author's own background (childhood traumas, family life, fixations) will be traceable in the work.
Major Concepts:
Some key or major concepts fund in psychoanalytic work include: dreams, confrontation, fantasy, fixation, libido, parapraxis (wanting to make a mistake to cause conflict, Freudian ideal), resistance, unconscious, ID, ego superego, and guilt.
Major Theorists:
Sigmund Freud is the most well known psychoanalytic theorist, and the founder of it. He created the Freudian theory which consists of sexual repression that manifests in dreams and relations with family members.
Carl Jung, who was a student of Freud, also had a significant impact on psychoanalysis. He built upon Freud's logic and expanded that all stories and symbols are based on events that shaped mankind's past.
Harold Blum is a more recent psychoanalytical theorist and professor who recently won an award for his efforts in Freud's studies. His works include Defense and Resistance: Historical Perspectives and Current Concepts, (1985), Female Psychology: Contemporary Psychoanalytic Views (1977), and Reconstruction in Psychoanalysis: Childhood Revisited and Recreated (1994). He works also as a psychiatrist focusing on psychoanalytic therapy.
Examples:
Studies On Hysteria (1895, Freud)
Psychoanalytic Study of the Child (Vol. 60)
Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Carl Jung)
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