This thesis looks at how adolescence is symbolised by children's journeys to exotic Fairylands. This is a place where they learn to integrate their emotional side (id/unconsious) with their moral...Show moreThis thesis looks at how adolescence is symbolised by children's journeys to exotic Fairylands. This is a place where they learn to integrate their emotional side (id/unconsious) with their moral/conscious side (superego/ego/persona). The integration of these elements signifies maturity. The thesis takes Bruno Bettelheim's Freudian analysis of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale 'Brother and Sister' as a 'base structure' and looks at how this structure is applicable to three books from the early twentieth century: Nesbit's "Phoenix and the Carpet", J.M. Barrie's "Peter and Wendy" and Hope Mirrlees's "Lud-in-the-Mist".Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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this thesis argues that alternative approaches outside of the dominant deconstructive model of trauma theory are in order to more comprehensively represent the (embodied) experience of trauma...Show morethis thesis argues that alternative approaches outside of the dominant deconstructive model of trauma theory are in order to more comprehensively represent the (embodied) experience of trauma amongst women in Western society. In chapter 1 I will start out by tracing the concept of trauma back to its origins. I will pay particular attention to the narratives emanating from the medical discourse surrounding hysteria and trauma, highlighting the paradoxical and problematic conceptualization of the female subject in psychoanalysis. Furthermore, I will show, taking Alias Grace as a case study, how psychoanalysis and the dominant model of trauma theory can be a fruitful epistemological tool when applied to trauma narratives, but also what its limitations are in the face of the female trauma. Chapter 2, then, will further examine the underlying cause of these limitations and the origin of the harmful narratives perpetuated within the trauma theory discourse by exploring the relationship between the phallogocentric nature of Western society and women’s place within it. It will demonstrate why the female experience of trauma warrants additional reflection and that, in some ways, it lies beyond the reaches of the dominant model. And finally, Chapter 3 will propose three alternative approaches that aim at providing a more inclusive account of the female trauma. All three approaches will be characterized by an emphasis on the embodied experience of trauma and treat the female body as a potential site of expression.Show less
Different ideas on happiness in the novel Serotonin can be recognized. Ideas of the philosophers Comte and Schopenhauer are connected to the contemporary use of anti-depressants, the notion of...Show moreDifferent ideas on happiness in the novel Serotonin can be recognized. Ideas of the philosophers Comte and Schopenhauer are connected to the contemporary use of anti-depressants, the notion of suicide and the role of women in society. Freudian elements with regards to the oral phase can also be recognized in the novel.Show less
The experience of illness produces profound disturbances in a person’s sense of self and integrity. Beyond the uncertainty caused by the incongruence between the sickened person’s self-concept and...Show moreThe experience of illness produces profound disturbances in a person’s sense of self and integrity. Beyond the uncertainty caused by the incongruence between the sickened person’s self-concept and his or her state of illness, there comes also an experience of uncertainty over the concept and potential prospect of death. The process of autopathography—defined by Smith and Watson as “[creating] first-person illness narratives”—often serves as a therapeutic outlet for those stricken by serious illnesses, allowing for them to both reflect on the past, as well as prompt for social change within the greater society. With reference to Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, and their resultant “virtues”, the study considers the tramatized’s intrapsychic and social orientations. It describes a functional method for analyzing autopathographical works for evidence of their authors’ working through of their trauma from these dimensions. Aude Lorde’s “The Cancer Journals” is used as a proof-of-concept case study.Show less
This essay is an attempt to analyse and interpret the art installation Between Darkness and Light (after William Blake) by the Scottish visual artist Douglas Gordon. The installation shows two...Show moreThis essay is an attempt to analyse and interpret the art installation Between Darkness and Light (after William Blake) by the Scottish visual artist Douglas Gordon. The installation shows two movies, The Exorcist by William Friedkin (1973) and The Song of Bernadette (1943) by Henry King, projected from either side onto a freestanding screen in the middle. The two main characters in the films, Regan in The Exorcist and Bernadette in The Song of Bernadette, are possessed. Regan is possessed by the evil demon Pazuzu and Bernadette sees Marian appartitions. For the analyses of the two films separately I make use of (post) Freudian ideas, whereas I interpret the entire installation from a Jungian point of view.Show less
