Once Below a Time: Dylan Thomas, Julia Kristeva, and Other Speaking Subjects (Psychoanalysis and Culture) - Softcover

Wardi, Eynel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791445607 ISBN 13: 9780791445600

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2000

Synopsis

Offers a psychoanalytically enhanced theory of poetics through close readings of Dylan Thomas and Julia Kristeva.

Highly original and theoretically wide-ranging, this book offers new insights into the origins of poetry. Working with much of the significant primary and secondary literature in psychoanalysis, particularly the theories of Julia Kristeva, the book skillfully sketches out a psychoanalytically enhanced theory of poetics through close readings of the works of Dylan Thomas. Through an intense dialogue with pivotal poems, it offers a “subjectivist” theory of poetic language, one that focuses on the interrelation between meaning and subjectivity in the dynamics of the poetic text. In this scheme, the “genesis of the speaking subject” is held to be a reenactment of old and new fantasies of origins, the reality of which is inaccessible to us―buried, as it were, “below time.” Among these fantasies, the author also recognizes the psychoanalytic fantasy of origins that guides her own project.

About this title

About the Author

“I particularly like the way in which Wardi reads Kristeva in relation to other important psychoanalytic figures, such as Klein, Freud, Winnicott, and Lacan. Overall, I think that Wardi’s affirmative reading of Kristeva, especially in relation to Klein, is both compelling and astute. In her close attention to the poetics of Kristeva, Wardi has not overlooked the most important aspect of Kristevian scholarship. I have not read many books which take Kristeva this seriously on this sophisticated a level.” ― Linda Belau, Department of Comparative Literature, Binghamton University

Review

“The basic premise of the book―that Kristevan poetics can shed light on Thomas’ work and vice-versa―reveals unexpected ramifications of each. The theoretical issues posed are fundamental ones, and the readings of Thomas often satisfying and surprising. The work will be useful to people studying Thomas and to people trying to work through the implications of Kristeva’s more recent work for literary study.” ― Joshua Wilner, City College, CUNY

“I particularly like the way in which Wardi reads Kristeva in relation to other important psychoanalytic figures, such as Klein, Freud, Winnicott, and Lacan. Overall, I think that Wardi’s affirmative reading of Kristeva, especially in relation to Klein, is both compelling and astute. In her close attention to the poetics of Kristeva, Wardi has not overlooked the most important aspect of Kristevian scholarship. I have not read many books which take Kristeva this seriously on this sophisticated a level.” ― Linda Belau, Department of Comparative Literature, Binghamton University

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0791445607
• ISBN 13: 9780791445600
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 254