Focusing largely on the analysis of the representations of feelings and thoughts of literary characters or even the hidden “desires” of their authors, literary criticism for the most part has neglected to discuss the portrayal of the ‘inside’ of literary characters as a construction. Similarly, the critical discussion of texts by psychological theorists such as Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung attests to an oversight regarding the fact that they had to contend with the exact same challenge their colleagues in literature faced, namely the linguistic construction of a descriptive model for something singularly elusive and essentially non-verbal. The turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century in particular – just when the schools of Analytical Psychology, Psychoanalysis and Gestalt theory were emerging – proved to be a period in which literature responded to a particularly high popular interest in gaining insight into the supposed ‘inner world’ of literary characters. In pairing literary texts of that period by Richard Beer-Hofmann, Arthur Schnitzler, and Robert Musil with theoretical texts by Jung, Freud, and Robert Musil, this project examines the deployment of symbol, allegory and metaphor as well as the use of “Gestalten” – figures or shapes – in order to simulate the ‘inside.’ The first chapter examines the writings of C.G. Jung and Richard Beer-Hofmann’s novella, Der Tod Georgs (1900), for ways in which their respective construction of the ‘inside’ relies on the trope of symbol. The second chapter does the same in regard to allegory with the writings of Freud, specifically his Bruchstück einer Hysterie-Analyse (1905), and Arthur Schnitzler’s stream-of-consciousness novella, Fräulein Else (1924). The final chapter juxtaposes literary writings with psychological texts by the same author, Robert Musil, and demonstrates that the construction of the ‘inside’ in his novella, Die Vollendung der Liebe (1911), relies heavily on metaphors informed by his great familiarity with key ideas of Gestalt theory. In conclusion, this dissertation argues that the charting of inner human landscapes is essentially a narrative endeavor, in literature as in psychology.

Detta arbete har undersökt hur man kan utgå ifrån Freuds Det kusliga tillsammans med olika vampyrstereotyper i syftet att skapa skrämmande skräckvarelser. För att undersöka detta togs tre olika vampyrinspirerade varelser fram. En som var baserad på Dracula, en baserad på kvinnliga vampyrer och en baserad på en mer monstruös, fladdermusliknande, vampyr. Dessa varelser placerades sedan i tre olika kontext där en var en miljö inspirerad av Silent Hill 2, en abstrakt odefinierad bakgrund och en enfärgad grå. Detta syftade att undersöka hur en kontext påverkar hur skrämmande varelsen upplevs. Undersökningsmetoden bestod av en webbenkät där resultatet pekade på att kontexten kring varelsen har betydelse samt att bekanta element och igenkänningsfaktor har betydelse för hur varelsen upplevs.

Cette thèse vise à explorer l’apport de la psychanalyse freudienne à la pensée politique. En abordant la réalité sociale et politique selon cette perspective psychologique, on peut concevoir qu’il y a des facteurs inconscients ainsi que conscients à la base du lien social. Il s’agit notamment du renoncement pulsionnel qui perpétue un conflit psychique inconscient et rend possible la cohésion sociale d’une part, et de l’identification ou renforcement du moi conscient afin de surmonter et dédommager ce conflit psychique tout en renforçant cette cohésion d’autre part. Après avoir mis en rapport les perspectives de P. Roazen, H. Marcuse et B. Bergen sur le lien social à partir des notions freudiennes, cette thèse défend une conception du moi comme finalité du lien social, et ce, sans pour autant aller à l’encontre de l’attitude introspective initiée par Freud.

In Western culture menstruation is considered to be a curse, an illness, or at least an aspect of feminine “nature” best suppressed. In this thesis I argue that the menstrual taboo has been oppressive to women. Through a closely reading of Sigmund Freud’s writing on femininity, I argue that Freud depicts a monstrous aspect of femininity, connected with the mother and female castration, which he believes must remain repressed. I propose that he is unable to detect a direct connection between female castration and menstruation, because he is himself unconscious of the operations of the menstrual taboo. / I draw on Freudian theorist Claude Dagmar Daly who critiques Freud’s negligence regarding the menstrual taboo, and pinpoints a “menstrual complex” at the heart of Freud’s Oedipus complex. In fleshing out the monstrous menstruating mother at the heart of the Oedipus complex I work with French feminist theorists Julia Kristeva, LuceIrigaray, and Hélène Cixous and trace this figure to the hysteric. Drawing on French feminist Catherine Clément’s writing on the hysteric, I reveal a marginalised space of feminine Nature that opens up in the splitting of the hysteric from the sorceress. I argue that the figure of the sorceress presides over an extremely important aspect of feminine Nature associated with women’s “blood magic.” / I use the term “blood magic” to describe a periodic magical power that is an aspect of feminine Nature, which has been repressed in Western culture. The roots of the term “blood magic” are in anthropological accounts of menstrual rituals. My use of the term Nature denotes the possibility of the expression of a femininity by women, where as “nature” is evidence of the colonisation of femininity by the dominant phallocentric culture in the West. A sacred space of feminine Nature that resides on the borders of culture cannot be accessed and returned to culture until it has been dislodged from the patriarchal depiction of menstruation as a monstrous threat to civilization. / I find that the hysteric provides an historical instance of feminine disorder linked to the sorceress that allows me to explore the domain of the sorceress and what I have referred to as “blood magic.” In order to develop this positive reconstruction of the menstrual taboo I draw on several case studies in which women’s menstrual cycles are ritualised for women’s empowerment. It is in relation to this sacred ritual space of femininity that I call for women to write their own feminine imaginaries, in connection with their menstrual cycles. Moreover, I argue that this constitutes the expression of an authentic account of female sexuality by women, which is dually the writing of a menstrual dialectic. Authenticity in these terms refers to the expression of the menstrual aspect of female sexuality by women. It therefore requires that women recognise the value of articulating the menstrual aspect of female sexuality.

Zugl.: Frankfurt (Main), Univ., Diss.

Zugl.: Freiburg (Breisgau), Univ., Diss., 2005

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-79). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Freie Univ., Diss. u.d.T.: Aumann, Gerlinde: Psychoanalyse und kritische Psychologie--Berlin, 2002.

Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät I--Zürich--Universität Zürich, 1992.