Psychoanalysis and Russian Studies

Thu Mar 23 11:16:58 UTC 2006

George Mitrevski <mitrege at AUBURN.EDU> wrote: What next?  A medical analysis of the narrator's diseased liver in "Notes from the Underground"? By a literary scholar? 

You are not right... A medical analysis of the narrator's diseased liver will be boring, while that what is normally analysed with the help of psychoanalysis in lit criticism is a lot of fun! Isnât fun an obligatory and primary element of the learning process according to that SACRED COW of modern education called student centered education?..  As far as I know, fun and not the academic achievement is in focus nowâ¦

I suppose it is really a lot of fun for those writing smth like this, scholars included. And sure,  itâs a lot of fun  for those reading the stuff. I remember that my mouth dropped open after the first page of âThe Sexual Labyrinth of Nikolai Gogolâ  (just to give one example), and I guess I was not able to pull it up till the last page. The result: I HAVE A DREAM!!! Iâd like to see Gogolâs face after his having read the bookâ¦

>From the other sideâ¦ when I recall all I read (no matter that it was fun to read the stuff) the followers of psychoanalysis wrote about Russian literature, I sometimes feel sort of embarrassed, because I ask myself if many of those pieces which are studied in classes on Literature in our high schools (I mean the former USSR) should be really studied in Literature classes and not in classes on sexual pathologies in medical schoolsâ¦ Reading the study of one scholar who claims, that the father of Dunia from âStanzionnyi smotritelâ is a kind of sexual maniac who fell for his own daughter, was, as far as I remember, exactly the moment when I asked myself if I actually knew what the whole Russian Literature was aboutâ¦ Iâd better stop here, no matter that the topic is really  VERY interesting.

Inna Caron <caron.4 at OSU.EDU> wrote: Dear SEELANGers,
...apparently, attempts at psychoanalytical interpretation are
met with much resistance, if not downright hostility, in the field of
English literature. 

I think it is kind of unfairâ¦ Russian Literature got from the followers of psychoanalysis âPO POLNOI PROGRAMMEâ! But as I see, psychoanalysis is not welcomed when it comes to English literature... How come? We have to keep a balanceâ¦

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere <darancourlaferriere at COMCAST.NET> wrote: 22 March 06
 I have had graduate students and even 
fellow-faculty members denounce my psychoanalytic interpretations to the 
administration of a certain university, and in one case I almost lost my 
job.  Fortunately, I had a very good lawyer, many people became involved 
inside and outside the university, and academic freedom won the day.

Academic freedom... Hm... Sehr problematisch...
However, I am going to contribute to promotion of psychoanalysis as a research tool. Feel incredibly enthusiasticâ¦ But just because I am currently located not in an English-speaking country, I am going to develop my own insight into the GERMAN literature through the prism of psychoanalysis and from the perspective of a RUSSIAN teacher  using the methodology of AMERICAN scholars.

In case I face expulsion from Germany, as a result, I will apply for asylum in â¦ Belorussia!

Regards,
Maryna Vinarska

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