Psychoanalytic Criticism and Theory

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Freudian, Jungian, Lacanian, and Deleuzian psychoanalytic theory as applied to literary criticism.

Psychoanalytic Criticism

A form of literary criticism influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by Sigmund Freud, which treats authors or characters as human subjects and views literary texts like dreams that express unconscious desires or neuroses.

The Unconscious

Understood as the ultimate source and reason for human thought and behavior, containing repressed instincts and impulses that determine mental life.

Dream Work

The process of transformation from latent content (hidden, repressed thoughts) to manifest content (the obvious, remembered dream).

Condensation

A mechanism of dream work where a single aspect of manifest content represents multiple latent elements, or where two images are laid over one another.

Displacement

A mechanism of dream work where emotions associated with one experience, person, or object are detached and reattached to something else.

Dramatization

The representation of repressed emotions in visual images during a dream to bypass or "cheat" the ego.

Secondary Elaboration

The attempt to make a dream meaningful by rationalizing it during inaccurate recollection upon waking.

Transference

The intense emotional relationship that develops between a patient and an analyst during psychoanalytic treatment.

Psychic Determinism

The principle that nothing in the psyche happens by chance; thoughts and behaviors are determined by prior unconscious causes.

Id

The fully unconscious part of the psychic structure that contains drives and natural impulses repressed by consciousness.

Ego

The mostly conscious part of the mind that deals with external reality according to the "reality principle" and mediates between the id and super-ego.

Super-ego

The internal moral judge or conscience, representing the "moral principle" and the ideal self.

Defense Mechanisms

Methods used by the ego to solve conflicts between the super-ego and the id.

Sublimation

A defense mechanism where the libido ($sexual desire$) changes its object and is diverted toward non-sexual, often socially acceptable, outlets.

Oedipus Complex

A theory named after the Greek myth where human beings repress an infantile desire for incest with the parent of the opposite sex and rivalry with the parent of the same sex.

Electra Complex

A concept where girls compete with their mother for the attention of their father.

Oral Stage

The first stage of psychosexual development, occurring from birth to approximately $1$ year, focused on the mouth and auto-eroticism.

Anal Stage

The second stage of psychosexual development, usually between ages $1$ and $3$, centered on toilet training and control/cleanliness.

Phallic Stage

The third stage of psychosexual development ($3$ to $6$ years) focused on the genitals and the development of the Oedipus or Electra complex.

Latency Stage

The psychosexual stage from age $6$ to puberty, characterized by little or no sexual motivation and a focus on friendships and hobbies.

Genital Stage

The final psychosexual stage from puberty to adulthood, involving psychological detachment from parents.

Eros

Known as the "life drive," it incorporates self-preservation, sex drive, and all creative, life-producing impulses.

Thanatos

Known as the "death drive," it represents an inherent urge in living things to return to a state of calm or non-existence.

The Uncanny

A Freudian concept describing an instance where something is familiar yet foreign at the same time, resulting in an uncomfortably strange feeling.

Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of an inherited reservoir of knowledge, memories, and images (archetypes) common to all mankind.

Archetype

A universal model of a person, personality, or behavior—such as the Wise Old Man, Shadow, or Persona—present in mythology and literature.

Anima and Animus

Jungian terms where the anima is the unconscious feminine component in men and the animus is the unconscious masculine component in women.

Gestalt Theory

A psychological theory emphasizing that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts," suggesting organisms perceive entire patterns rather than isolated pieces.

Mirror Stage

Jacques Lacan's concept of the moment in an infant's life where it identifies with its own reflection, leading to the first realization of bodily autonomy and a lifelong "misrecognition" of a stable self.

The Real

The Lacanian psychic stage of nature and unity with the mother before language, which resists representation and can never be truly grasped by the adult.

The Imaginary

The Lacanian stage of subjectivity that constitutes the ego, beginning with the Mirror Stage and involving identification with an ideal outside image (the Other).

The Symbolic

The Lacanian stage or order related to language, grammar, and law; it is the realm of the "Big Other" where the self is represented through signifiers.

Floating Signifier

A signifier without a solid or stable meaning, where the concept is fluid but the term remains concrete, such as "race" or "gender."

Schizoanalysis

A critique of psychoanalysis and Marxism developed by Deleuze and Guattari that focuses on experimentation, liberation, and "becoming" rather than fixed identity.

Rhizome

A concept used by Deleuze and Guattari to describe non-hierarchical, horizontal systems of knowledge that spread without a center, contrasting with the hierarchical "tree" model.

Minor Literature

Literature produced by a marginalized group within a major language that creates new meanings and identities of "becoming" rather than simple expression.