Impressions of an analyst: reassessing Sigmund Freud's literary style through a comparative study of the principles and fiction of Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, Virginia Woolf & Dorothy Richardson

Banks, Gemma (2018). Impressions of an analyst: reassessing Sigmund Freud's literary style through a comparative study of the principles and fiction of Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, Virginia Woolf & Dorothy Richardson. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The connection between Sigmund Freud and modernism is firmly established and there is an increasing (though still limited) body of scholarship that adopts methods of literary analysis in approaching Freud's texts. This thesis adds depth and specificity to a broad claim to literariness by arguing that Freud can be considered a practitioner of modern literary impressionism. The claim is substantiated through close textual analysis of key texts from James Strachey' s Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, alongside theory and fiction by significant impressionist authors Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Richardson. The authors' respective approaches to various aspects of literary impressionism are considered, such as the methods of textual development, the instability of genre, and the stylised techniques utilised to convey the impression. This research illustrates that whilst each of the chosen novelists engages with literary impressionism differently, Freud's texts share common practice with each, facilitating the reassessment of the analyst as a specifically 'impressionist' author.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

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