Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious and Fantasia of the Unconscious - Softcover

Lawrence, D. H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486443736 ISBN 13: 9780486443737

Publisher: Dover Publications, 2006

Synopsis

"Extraordinary. Certainly a landmark in the history of psychoanalysis."--Kenneth Rexroth
This volume features two profound essays by one of the English language's most famous and controversial authors. D. H. Lawrence wrote Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious and Fantasia of the Unconscious in the early 1920s, during his most productive period. Initially intended as a response to psychoanalytic criticism of his novel Sons and Lovers, these works progressed into a counterproposal to the Freudian psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious and the incest motive. They also voice Lawrence's concepts of education, marriage, and social and political action.
"This pseudo-philosophy of mine," explained Lawrence, "was deduced from the novels and poems, not the reverse. The absolute need one has for some sort of satisfactory mental attitude towards oneself and things in general makes one try to abstract some definite conclusions from one's experiences as a writer and as a man." With these two essays, the author articulates his insights into the mental struggle to rationalize and reconcile the polarity that exists between emotional and intellectual identities. Critical to understanding Lawrence's other works, they offer a bold synthesis of literary theory and criticism of Freudian psychology.

About this title

Book Description

Written in Lawrence's most productive period, the two essays Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious (1921) and Fantasia of the Unconscious (1922) propose an alternative to what Lawrence perceived as the Freudian psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious and the incest motive. In doing so they also develop his ideas about the upbringing and education of children, about marriage, and about social and even political action. They form an illuminating guide to his philosophy in general, and the thinking behind his other published works.

About the Author

Bruce Steele is Senior Honorary Research Fellow at Monash University, Victoria. He has edited four volumes in The Cambridge Edition of the Works of D. H. Lawrence, and currently, with Clive Probyn, he is directing Monash University's Henry Handel Richardson project which is producing the first complete critical edition of Richardson's works.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0486443736
• ISBN 13: 9780486443737
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240