Reading Lacan reading: Freudian theory, literary text

Lacan is a reader of Freud and of literature, a psychoanalyst whose theoretical texts demonstrate a reading practice useful to literary critics. However, Lacan's reading practices remain largely unexplored by English-speaking critics because his reception has led to a conflation of Lacanian theory with Marxism or semiotics. Moreover, Lacan' s mature register theory seems largely ignored by American critics who overemphasize his early mirror stage theory. Therefore, to recover a distinctly Lacanian theoretical practice, this dissertation returns to Lacan, emphasizing those readings of Freud, philosophy, and literature in which Lacan dissects a heterogeneous text into dissymmetric imaginary and symbolic registers of signification, identification, and interpretation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Van Pelt, Tamise Jo

Contributors dc:contributor

• Blake, Nancy

• Literature, General
• Literature, English
• Psychology, General

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1994 Van Pelt, Tamise Jo

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

AAI9512580
(UMI)AAI9512580

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/22117