The essay explored the connection between the deviation of the children’s behavioral patterns and the theory of psychoanalysis. Texts by Klein and Freud and also adaptations of their theories by Mangs, Martell and Salzberg-Wittenberg were used to explore whether the characters followed the developmental stages according to psychoanalysis. Through a comparison between the records of the characters’ behavior with diagnostic material regarding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder composed by the American Psychiatric Association, the conclusion was drawn that the result of the analysis points towards the fact that the deviation in the behavioral patterns of the children was a result of the traumatic events that took place around them.

Abstract Gothic fiction captivates adults probably because it always reminds them of childhood and the irrational and naïve responses to the invisible beings. In fact, fear initiated by terror intrinsic in ghost tales is not aimed to suppress desire, but turns to be an access for people to recognize their suppressed desires. Is Gothic fiction worth canonizing, deserving of the name of ¡§literature¡¨ when Gothic fiction tends to be associated with immature fear and desire, and for most people, it is particularly suited to the temporal possession for passing leisure and boring time, and then it is piled up even around the corner of the lavatory? My dissertation, however, starts with these pejorative terms: primitiveness, childhood, fantasy, terror and disposable commodity. Truly, this kind of popular literature appeals to great numbers of people, influencing a large portion of the population in the world, but is not credited accordingly. My intention is to discover the valuable relic that Gothic fiction has left among the contemptuous debris that the moralists and scholars have thrown at it. The strategy I adopt is to represent the milieu where Gothic fiction rises and falls in a historical and cultural perspective. Abroad, the American and French Revolutions break out in tandem, which instigate heated debates over ¡¥revolution,¡¦ and ¡¥history¡¦ in Britain. And the Reign of Terror in the aftermath of the French Revolution shocks the English monarch and aristocracy. The military conflicts between Britain and France increase. Domestically, the Industrial Revolution brings great impact to English society, precipitating the rise of the bourgeoisie and working class. Coincidentally, this literature of terror becomes the allegory of cultural and political convulsions that rack this nation. And the English people, especially the rising class, find the expression of their anxieties and expectations in Gothic fiction. In addition to reconstructing the network of political, social, aesthetic strains that are integrated into Gothic fiction, I attempt to depict how power shifts, changing the relationships of different factions and ranks of English society when commerce gradually dominates in the activity of literature. As is noted, Gothic fiction is conceived to be more than an innocent enchantment, or a palliative composed of nostalgia for childhood, or a consumable pastime. To indicate how Gothic fiction is rooted in the depth of English culture, I exemplify four English classics as well as bestsellers, and scrutinize them with the concept of ¡§spectralization¡¨ together with the theory of psychoanalysis. The four English Gothic novels I decided on are Ann Radcliffe¡¦s The Mysteries of Udolpho, Matthew Lewis¡¦s The Monk, Mary Shelley¡¦s Frankenstein, and Charles Maturin¡¦s Melmoth, the Wanderer. With the spectralization of women, sexuality, ambition, and life in individual works, I endeavor to make the latent truth manifest. Thus, the visible and invisible states of existence are juxtaposed. These motifs indeed pertain to the anxious restlessness, painful sense of insecurity, and the tantalization of suppressed desires, which confronts the middle and lower classes as English society is going through rapid vicissitudes at the turn of the nineteenth century. Finally, I come to the conclusion that a common pattern of forming and suppressing of desire repeats itself in each novel as well as in the interactions of different participants in the establishment of the Gothic discourse. The suppression imposed on popular literature, such as thrillers and Gothic novels, in fact, originates from the bias that there are highbrow and lowbrow types of literature. And the critics, most of whom consider themselves arbiters of literary tastes and makers of literary canons, show contempt to the bestsellers in the book market. With my research, I expect to convince people that Gothic fiction can be defined as a literary asset, not a disposable forged relic. Writers and readers that favor popular literature do not have to apologize or feel ashamed for their devotion to it.

This thesis aims to excavate and accentuate the poetics of transgression manifested in Thomas Pynchon¡¦s The Crying of Lot 49 in the light of psychoanalytical theory. The psychoanalytical reading of this novel is indispensable since it provides an illuminating comprehension of the concept of transgression. The idea of transgression refers emphatically to the act of crossing, traversing, or violating boundaries and, more significantly, to the subversion and undermining power latent in the act of transgression. Chapter one offers a general introduction of the historical and cultural context of the novel, the theoretical framework and thesis structure. Chapter two resorts mainly to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari¡¦s understanding of the unconscious syntheses in Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia to delineate the textual structure, which refers to San Narciso. The city is simultaneously the projection of Pierce Inverarity¡¦s unconscious topography and the projection of capitalist society. The psychic and social registrations are similarly founded on the model of the unconscious syntheses, or, in Deleuze and Guattari¡¦s words, the desiring-machines, manifesting their assertion that there is no boundary between the psychic and the social and the two are both invested by the desire. The underground network of the Tristero otherwise projects an alternative force in contrast to the capitalist dictatorship of Pierce. The Tristero represents the schizophrenia that is produced yet renounced by capitalism and it also stands for the aggressive force that pushes the capitalist machine to its limits. Chapter three analyzes the relation between Oedipa Maas and the city San Narciso. Oedipa represents a bourgeoisie housewife whose ego centrism is cultivated by the narcissistic enclosure of the capitalist society in San Narciso. The permeating aura of narcissism precipitates her paranoia, depriving her of the alternative sight to see the real Tristero. Oedipa¡¦s paranoiac obsession makes her see the Tristero as a simple conspiracy, ignoring its schizophrenic nature. Opposite to such an arbitrary misconception, this thesis attempt to recover the proper character of the Tristero as a hyperreality in the light of Jean Baudrillard¡¦s notion of simulation.

The Officer Fetish examines the fetishized American military officer and the marginalized American enlisted man as they appear in post-World War II American film, television, and literature. The fetishized officer, whose cathexis is most prominent in the World War II-era propaganda film, has persisted as a convention since the war—a phenomenon that has contributed to the rise of militarism in America. Chapter II lays the foundation of Marxist and Freudian definitions of fetishism and fetishization, and then gauges those definitions with two films, In Which We Serve (1942), a standard World War II propaganda film, and Saving Private Ryan (1997), a film that postures itself as anti-war. Chapter III examines war narratives as a medium that polices class in American culture. The military, with its anti-democratic two-tiered rank system, is attractive to many novels and films because of its strict class boundaries. Chapter IV examines the degree to which so-called anti-war narratives contribute to America’s rising economy of militarism.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Psychology, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (M.A. (Psychology)) - Rhodes University, 2009.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong. / Typewritten.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--York University, 2001. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-158). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ66396.

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