
The Poetics of Psychoanalysis
In the Wake of Klein
Mary Jacobus(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 22. December 2005
Book
Hardback
316 pages
978-0-19-924636-6 (ISBN)
Description
The Poetics of Psychoanalysis: In the Wake of Klein explores the literary aspects of the twentieth-century psychoanalytic tradition that has come to be known as British Object Relations psychoanalysis. Focusing on Melanie Klein's legacy to psychoanalysis between the 1930s and 1970s, it deals with major figures such as Riviere, Isaacs, Winnicott, Milner, and Bion, as well as Klein's contemporary, Ella Sharpe. Mary Jacobus breaks new ground by giving a central place to the literary and aesthetic concerns of the British Object Relations tradition. Paying close attention to writing that is often side-lined by literary critics and theorists, she makes fruitful connections with particular works of literature and art, along with pressing contemporary issues.
The three sections focus on the transitions, mediations, and transformations that took place in British Object Relations psychoanalysis as Klein's ideas were developed and transformed. Situating Kleinian thought in relation to later developments and differences, while making it accessible to non-psychoanalytic readers, The Poetics of Psychoanalysis argues against the separation of British and continental traditions and for the continuing links between psychoanalysis and aesthetics. Rather than applying psychoanalytic ideas to literature and aesthetics, the book traces the British Object Relations tradition as a form of proto-modernist discourse in its own right. Linked by a common thread of ideas and structured to reflect a roughly chronological trajectory, individual chapters can also be read as free-standing critical essays. Aimed at literary readers, this book will also be of interest to psychoanalytic practitioners and cultural theorists.
The three sections focus on the transitions, mediations, and transformations that took place in British Object Relations psychoanalysis as Klein's ideas were developed and transformed. Situating Kleinian thought in relation to later developments and differences, while making it accessible to non-psychoanalytic readers, The Poetics of Psychoanalysis argues against the separation of British and continental traditions and for the continuing links between psychoanalysis and aesthetics. Rather than applying psychoanalytic ideas to literature and aesthetics, the book traces the British Object Relations tradition as a form of proto-modernist discourse in its own right. Linked by a common thread of ideas and structured to reflect a roughly chronological trajectory, individual chapters can also be read as free-standing critical essays. Aimed at literary readers, this book will also be of interest to psychoanalytic practitioners and cultural theorists.
Reviews / Votes
This excellent study of British object-relations thoery has definitive chapters on Ella Freeman Sharpe, Joan Riviere, Melanie Klein, Susan Isaacs, Marion Milner. D.W. Winnicott, and Wilfred Bion, which constitute variations on themes that Mary Jacobus circles around again and again. * Modern Language Review, 102.4 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Scholars and students interested in literary theory, specifically psychoanalytic theory. Also those interested in the relations between literature, aesthetics, and literary and cultural theory.
Illustrations
13 Fotos bzw. Rasterbilder
13 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
646 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-924636-6 (9780199246366)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
12/2005
1st Edition
OUP
€302.74
Available for download
Person
Mary Jacobus has taught at Oxford, Cornell, and Cambridge, where she is currently Professor of English (Grace 2). She was formerly Anderson Chair of English and Women's Studies at Cornell University. Her work spans Romantic literature, feminist criticism and theory, and psychoanalysis.
Content
PART I: TRANSITIONS ; 1. Body Poetics: Ella Sharpe ; 1.1 'Brownie' Sharpe and the Stuff of Dreams ; 1.2 Air Wars: Hamlet and the Magical Phallus ; 2. Stolen Goods: Joan Riviere ; 3. The Mirror of Theory: Klein's Books ; PART II: MEDIATIONS ; 4. Magical Arts: The Poetics of Play ; 5. Flaying the Mind: Milner and the Myth of Marsyas ; 6. Communicating and Not Communicating: Wordsworth and Winnicott ; PART III: TRANSFORMATIONS ; 7. Palinurus and the Tank: Bion's War ; 8. Prometheus on the Couch: The Language of Terror ; 9. Catastrophe in the Poppy Field: Bion's Aesthetics ; 10. The Unexpected: Bionic Woman