Reading the Subject: Freud/Fiction/Lacan

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2010:

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.

• have acquired familiarity with the basic tenets of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalytic theories of subject-formation and some of the ways in which they have been challenged and revised;
• have examined the influence of psychoanalytic perspectives on literary and film criticism in the twentieth century; and
• have examined ways in which fictive texts can present critiques of psychoanalytic theories and practices.

A class paper presentation of 1000 words 10% and an essay of 4000 words 90% (due at the end of semester). A hurdle requirement of attendance and participation in a minimum of 9 seminars. Assessment submitted late without an approved formal extension will be penalised at 2% per day. Students who fail to submit within 2 weeks after the final due date without a formal extension and/or special consideration will receive a fail grade for the piece of assessment.

A subject reader will be available.

• Waiting for the Barbarians (J M Coetzee), Penguin
• The History of Sexuality (Vol. 1) (M Foucault), Random House
• The Freud Reader (P Gay (ed)), Vintage
• The White Hotel (D M Thomas)
• Mrs Dalloway (V Woolf), Penguin
• Vertigo (Film)

• Psychoanalytic Theory: An Introduction (Recommended reading: A Elliott), Blackwell
• An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis (D Evans), Routledge
• A Primer of Freudian Psychology (C S Hall), Mentor
  
• Psychoanalytic Criticism: Theory in Practice (E Wright), Methuen
• Freud: A Very Short Introduction (A Storr), OUP

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• have advanced research and analytic skills;

• develop critical and ethical self-awareness; and

• have the ability to develop and communicate effective arguments in both oral and written form.