Psychoanalysis and Russian Studies

[George Mitrevski]

Here is my beef with psychoanalytic approaches to literature. 
Many years ago as a graduate student I recall reading a psychoanalytic study of a character in a Russian novel, perhaps Raskolnikov. How ridiculous, I thought, to be reading a psychoanalytic study of the figment of someone's imagination, by a person with a degree in literature! What next?  A medical analysis of the narrator's diseased liver in "Notes from the Underground"? By a literary scholar? 

George.

Foreign Languages                 tel. 334-844-6376
6030 Haley Center                  fax. 334-844-6378
Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
home: www.auburn.edu/~mitrege


>>> Daniel Rancour-Laferriere <darancourlaferriere at COMCAST.NET> 03/21/06 2:42  >>>
Dear Federica,
Sounds interesting.  But in what sense is the book "psychoanalytical" if 
it is titled "Semiotika bezumiia"?  What psychoanalytic concepts are 
employed?  Please describe the contents.

Thanks,
Daniel RL

Federica wrote:

>Dear Inna,
>Dear Daniel,
>did you hear about the book 
>
>Semiotika bezumija, Moskva: Evropa, 2005g., edited by Nora Buhks?
>
>The articles collected in this book develop a psychoanalytical approach to
>the analysis of Russian lit. and culture. 
>
>Best regards,
>Federica
>Paris IV
>
>-----Message d'origine-----
>De : Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
>[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] De la part de Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
>Envoyé : sabato 18 marzo 2006 9.35
>À : SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU 
>Objet : [OBORONA-SPAM] [SEELANGS] Psychoanalysis and Russian Studies
>
>18 March 2006
>
>Dear Inna Caron,
>Can you really have written the following words?
>
>  
>
>>I have to say, I did not notice any negativity surrounding
>>psychoanalytical approach in Russian literary studies.
>>
>>    
>>
>
>Where have you been?  If it's not a secret, please tell me, so I can go 
>there too (although I would miss my sunny California)...
>
>Seriously.  On the traditional, well-entrenched hostility toward 
>psychoanalysis in the Russian field, see my survey in the volume I 
>edited, _Russian Literature and Psychoanalysis_ (Amsterdam: John 
>Benjamins Publishing Company, 1989, pp. 1-38).  For the Russian version, 
>see my _Russkaia literatura i psikhoanaliz_ (Moscow: Ladomir, 2004, pp. 
>128-160).
>
>I could tell some stories from as far back as thirty-five years ago.  
>But no, not yet.
>
>Regards,
>
>Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
>
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