Shakespeare and Psychoanalytic Theory

by Brown, Carolyn; Gajowski, Evelyn

• ISBN13: 9781472503244
• ISBN10: 1472503244
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-09-24
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare

Summary

Although psychoanalytic criticism of Shakespeare is a prominent and prolific field of scholarship, the analytic methods and tools, theories, and critics who apply the theories have not been adequately assessed. This book fills that gap. It surveys the psychoanalytic theorists who have had the most impact on studies of Shakespeare, clearly explaining the fundamental developments and concepts of their theories, providing concise definitions of key terminology, describing the inception and evolution of different schools of psychoanalysis, and discussing the relationship of psychoanalytic theory (especially in Shakespeare) to other critical theories. It chronologically surveys the major critics who have applied psychoanalysis to their readings of Shakespeare, clarifying the theories they are enlisting; charting the inception, evolution, and interaction of their approaches; and highlighting new meanings that have resulted from such readings. It assesses the applicability of psychoanalytic theory to Shakespeare studies and the significance and value of the resulting readings.

Author Biography

Carolyn Brown is Associate Professor of English at the University of San Francisco, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1: Sigmund Freud and Ernest Jones
2: Anna Freud, Erik Erikson, Heinz Kohut, and Otto Kernberg: Ego Psychology and
Psychology of the Self
3: Otto Rank, Melanie Klein, David Winnicott, and Karen Horney: Object
Relations Theory and Third Force Psychology
4: Carl Jung and Jacques Lacan
5: Psychoanalysis and Other Theories
6: Shakespearean Psychoanalytic Critics Prior to 1969
7: Shakespearean Psychoanalytic Critics in the 1970s and 1980s
8: Shakespearean Psychoanalytic Critics from 1990 to the Present
9: A Psychoanalytic / Queer Reading of Romeo and Juliet
10: A Psychoanalytic Reading
Glossary
Index