Psychoanalytical Psychology, 20th Century Irish Fiction & Prose Literature - Literary Criticism, General & Miscellaneous Irish Fiction & Prose Literature - Literary Criticism, Psychology & Literature, Individual Psychologists

James Joyce and the Problem of Psychoanalysis

Name: James Joyce and the Problem of Psychoanalysis
Author: Thurston, Luke
ISBN: 9780521128834

by Thurston, Luke

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Overview

From its very beginning, psychoanalysis sought to incorporate the aesthetic into its domain, translating it as vagrant symptom or sublimated desire. Despite Joyce's deliberate attempt in his writing to resist this powerful hermeneutic, his work has been confronted by a long tradition of psychoanalytic readings. Luke Thurston argues that this very antagonism holds the key to how psychoanalytic thinking can still open up new avenues in Joycean criticism and literary theory. In particular, Thurston shows that Jacques Lacan's encounter with Joyce forms part of an effort to think beyond the 'application' of theory: instead of merely diagnosing Joyce's writing or claiming to have deciphered its riddles, Lacan seeks to understand how it can entail an unreadable signature, a unique act of social transgression that defies translation into discourse. Thurston builds on Lacan's notion of Joyce's irreducible literary act to illuminate Joyce's place in a wide-ranging literary genealogy that includes Shakespeare, Hogg, Stevenson and Wilde. This study should be essential reading for all students of Joyce, literary theory and psychoanalysis.

Synopsis

Psychoanalytic readings of Joyce abound, despite Joyce's deliberate attempts to resist them. Luke Thurston argues that this very antagonism determines how psychoanalytic thinking can influence Joycean criticism and literary theory. Thus, Jacques Lacan attempts to understand how Joyce's writing presents an unreadable signature that defies translation into discourse. Thurston imaginatively develops Lacan's work to illuminate Joyce's position in a literary hierarchy that includes Shakespeare, Hogg, Stevenson and Wilde.