“The Monster of Her Own Creation”: Freud’s Seduction Theory and Algernon Blackwood’s Jimbo: A Fantasy

<p>Psychoanalysis has a history of using literature to explain and augment its theories. What is more unusual is when a work of fiction finds itself structured around pre-existing psychoanalytical theory. Algernon Blackwood’s <em>Jimbo: A Fantasy</em> (1909) is a children’s novel reminiscent of a combination of Henry James’s <em>The Turn of the Screw</em> and Lewis Carroll’s <em>Alice in Wonderland</em>. In the novel, the titular character is a seven-year-old boy with an overactive imagination who is traumatized by his governess before suffering an accident that places him into a coma. The coma results in Jimbo entering a bizarre fantasy world which he journeys through with a version of his governess. The resulting narrative becomes one of childhood trauma and repression, seemingly structured around Freud’s long buried seduction theory, a theory of childhood trauma caused by sexual abuse. The novel serves as a case study, while also illustrating how children’s literature can take an active role in shaping and building upon psychoanalytic theory.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Schluter, Kristina

Contributors dc:contributor

• Eric Tribunella
• Monika Gehlawat
• Alexandra Valint

• algernon blackwood
• seduction theory
• sigmund freud
• children's literature
• jimbo a fantasy
• Children's and Young Adult Literature
• Literature in English, British Isles

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/670

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1730