Freudanamics

Freud is a little on the romantic side if he thinks the latent, that is, actual neurotic conflict within the writer may be traced from the work of literature. However, as a starting point, that, "art is an expression of displaced neurotic conflict," I must completely agree with Frued. The problem is that getting to that neurotic conflict is not that easy, and not always possible - though I do not deny that it is impossible either.

Freud's idea of reversal is important for literary study, as a word may be related to other words in the text; for example, one might consider antithetical words and their relation to one another, as well as the temporal placement of them within the text. Images may take on a dual-quality of representation, just like in a painting, one can look from the center out, or from the frame to the center, well, a literary metaphor may be seen in the same way. For example, a ladder may represent ascent and descent, especially if the ladder can be connected to different contextual relationships, which may exist in two different temporal locations of the text - before and after the image is presented.

Displacement is an important element for literary study. A joke in a piece of literature, though on the surface may simply be funny, in terms of latent meaning and possible condensation of contextual themes, the joke may be examined to reveal displaced meanings and contextual relationships.

Condensation may go hand in hand with reversal. A metaphor made up of different parts, with all the parts relating to different contexts, is a condensed metaphor operating with reversal. Huysmans's turtle in A Rebours, which the protagonist chisels jewels into its carapace (shell) in the shape of flowers, is an example of condensation. A whole chapter is dedicated to flowers which have a relationship to this metaphor, as well as a whole chapter on jewels, and religion, which is related to a word used in the turtle description, ciborium. This one turtle, this one metaphor, has at least three different contextual relationships, which all affect the meaning the reader derives - what the reader will assume the turtle to represent.

I am way too burned out to crack Lacan right now, but I would like to comment that his essay was brilliant and shattered my world-view. I'll make a second post on lacan tommorow or the day after. Too dense.