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Art
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====Sigmund Freud====
[[Freud]] valued [[art]] as one of [[human]]ity's great [[culture|cultural]] [[civilization|institutions]], and dedicated many papers to discussing both the [[process]] of [[art|artistic creation]] in general and certain [[art|works of art]] in [[particular]].
=====Artistic Creation=====
=====Sublimation=====
He explained [[art|artistic creation]] by reference to the [[concept]] of [[sublimation]], a process in which [[sexual]] [[libido]] is redirected towards [[sublimation|non-sexual aims]].
==Sigmund Freud==[[Freud]] valued [[art]] as one =Works of [[human]]ity's great [[culture|cultural]] [[civilization|institutions]], and dedicated many papers to discussing both the process of [[art|artistic creation]] in general and certain [[art|works of art]] in particular. Art====Sublimation===He explained [[art|artistic creation]] by reference to the concept of [[sublimation]], a process in which [[sexual]] [[libido]] is redirected towards [[sublimation|non-sexual aims]]. ===Works of Literature=====[[Freud]] also dedicated a [[number ]] of papers to analysing particular [[art|works of art]], especially works of [[literature]], which he argued could be useful to psychoanalysis in two main ways. # Firstly, these works often express in [[poetry|poetic form]] [[truth]]s [[about ]] the [[psyche]], which implies that [[art|creative writers]] can intuit directly the [[truth]]s which [[psychoanalysts]] only discover later by more laborious means.
# Secondly, [[Freud]] also argued that a close [[psychoanalytic]] [[interpretation|reading]] of [[art|works of literature]] could uncover elements of the author's [[psyche]].
=====Michelangelo's ''Moses''=====
While most of [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|papers]] on particular [[art|works of art]] concern [[art|works of literature]], he did not entirely neglect [[other]] [[art|art forms]]; for example he devoted one paper to discussing [[Michelangelo]]'s statue of [[Moses]].<ref>{{F}} "[[The Moses of Michelangelo]]," 1914b. [[SE]] XIII, 211.</ref>
[[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|works]] also abound in discussions of particular [[art|works of art]].
=====Literature=====
Like [[Freud]], [[Lacan]] devotes most of his attention to [[art|works of literature]] of all genres:
* [[art|prose ]] (e.g. the [[discussion ]] of The [[Purloined Letter ]] by [[Edgar Allan Poe]]<ref>{{S2}} Ch. 16; {{1955}}</ref>), * [[art|drama ]] (e.g. the discussions of [[Shakespeare]]'s [[Hamlet in Lacan, ]] <ref>{{1958-9}}</ref>, and of [[Sophocles]]' [[Antigone in ]] <ref>{{S7}}, chs Chs. 19-21</ref>) and * [[art|poetry ]] (e.g. the discussion of [[Booz endormi ]] by Victor [[Hugo in ]]<ref>{{S3, }} p. 218- 25; {{S4, }} p. 377-8; {{E, }} p. 156-8; {{S8, }} p. 158-9</ref>).
=====Visual Arts=====However, [[Lacan ]] also discusses the [[art|visual arts]], devoting several lectures in his [[Seminar XI|1964 ]] [[seminar ]] to discussing [[art|painting]], particularly [[art|anamorphotic art (Sll, chs ]].<ref>{{S11}} Chs. 7-9, where he discusses [[Holbein]]'s [[The Ambassadors]]; see also {{S7, }} p. 139-42</ref>).
====Differences- Freud and Lacan====There are, nevertheless, significant differences between the ways in which [[Freud ]] and [[Lacan ]] approach [[work|works of art]].
=====Psychology of the Artist=====Though [[Lacan ]] does [[speak ]] about [[sublimation]], unlike [[Freud ]] he does not believe that it is possible or even desirable for psychoanalysts [[psychoanalyst]]s to say anything about the [[psychology ]] of the [[art|artist ]] on the basis of an examination of a [[art|work of art (see ]].<ref>See his critical remarks on '"[[art|psychobiography']]"; {{Ec, }} 740-1). </ref>
Just because the most fundamental [[complex ]] ([[Oedipuscomplex|Oedipus]]) in [[psychoanalytic theory ]] is taken from a [[art|literary work]], [[Lacan ]] says, does not mean that [[psychoanalysis ]] has anything to say about [[Sophocles (]].<ref>{{L}} "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Lituraterre]]," ''Littérature'', no. 3, 1971: . p. 3).</ref>
==More===Authorial Intentions=====[[Lacan]]'s [[exclusion ]] of the [[art|artist ]] from his discussions of [[art|works of art ]] means that his readings [[interpretation|reading]]s of [[art|literary texts ]] are not concerned to reconstruct the [[author]]'s intentions[[intention]]s.
=====Discourse of the Analysand=====In his suspension of the question of authorial [[author]]ial [[consciousness|intent]], [[Lacan ]] is not merely aligning himself with the [[structuralism|structuralist movement ]] (after all, authorial [[author]]ial [[consciousness|intent ]] had been bracketed by [[art|New Criticism ]] long before the [[structuralism|structuralists ]] appeared on the [[scene]]), but is rather illustrating the way in which the [[analyst ]] should proceed when [[free association|listening ]] to and [[interpretation|interpreting ]] the [[discourse ]] of the [[analysand]].
The [[analyst ]] must, in other [[words]], treat the [[analysand]]'s [[discourse ]] as a [[art|text]]:
<blockquote>You must start from the [[text]], start by treating it, as Freud does and as he recommends, as Holy Writ. The author, the scribe, is only a pen-pusher, and he comes second. . . . Similarly, when it comes to our [[patients]], please give more attention to the text than to the psychology of the author - the entire orientation of my teaching is that.<ref>{{S2}} p.153</ref></blockquote>
==More===Method of Reading=====[[Lacan]]'s discussions of [[art|literary texts ]] are thus not exercises in [[art|literary criticism ]] for its own sake, but performances designed to give his audience an [[idea ]] of how they are to read the [[unconscious ]] of their patients[[patient]]s.
This [[interpretation|method of reading ]] is similar to those employed by [[structuralism|formalism ]] and [[structuralism]]; the [[signified ]] is neglected in favour of the [[signifier]], [[structure|content ]] is bracketed in favour of [[structure|formal structures]].<ref>(although Although [[Jacques Derrida ]] has argued that [[Lacan ]] does not in fact follow his own method; see [[Jacques Derrida|Derrida, Jacques]] 1975). "Le facteur de la vérité," in ''The Post Card: From [[Socrates]] to Freud and Beyond'', trans. Alan Bass, Chicago and [[London]]: [[University]] of Chicago Press, 1987, pp. 413-96.</ref> and by two of [[Derrida]]'s followers.<ref>Lacoue-Labarthe, Philippe, and Nancy, Jean-Luc. 1973. ''Le Titre de la [[lettre]]'', [[Paris]]: Galilée.</ref>
==More===Illustrative Models=====Besides serving as models of a [[interpretation|method of reading]], which [[Lacan ]] recommends analysts [[analyst]]s to follow when [[interpretation|reading ]] the [[discourse ]] of their patients[[patient]]s, [[Lacan]]'s discussions of [[art|literary texts ]] also aim to extract certain elements which serve as metaphors [[metaphor]]s to illustrate some of his most important [[ideas]].
For example, in his [[reading ]] of [[Poe]]'s ''[[The Purloined Letter]]'', [[Lacan]] points to the circulating [[letter]] as a [[metaphor ]] for the [[signifier|determinative power ]] of the [[signifier]].
====="Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism"=====
A new branch of so-called "[[art|psychoanalytic literary criticism]]" now claims to be inspired by [[Lacan]]'s approach to [[art|literary texts]].
==References==
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[[Category:Freudian psychology]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]