Literary Work Under The Influence Of The Unconscious Rather Than Artistic Inspiration

What is literature? Why are we studying literature? These are the questions that in appearance seem to be so simple but actually, they hide behind a very powerful meaning. Literature is known to be a form of art but what is art? How can we understand art? Is it something that only is supposed to please the eye or perhaps, at a deeper level of comprehension, does it stand for an object meant to please the soul as well as the mind? Art in all its diversity has represented a topic of general interest for many people of culture along the years. For Pablo Picasso, famous Italian painter, art “washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”, meaning that art is a way of transcending out of reality, a way of escaping from the burden of an ordinary life that does not satisfy the needs of the soul.

For Paul Cezanne, a famous French painter, art is given a new sense. He stated that 'A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.', meaning that any form or manifestation of art is supposed to move people, it is supposed to produce emotion, to make people feel. It is my belief that, when it comes to literature and art in general, one should not look for the outside meaning, one should not look for a whole image but look for the details, for the story behind the story and this is where psychoanalysis interferes. Behind a work of art, there is one's psychology, there is one that gives meaning to that work of art and this way there can be established a special relationship between the author, the text and the reader, a relationship that I will further lay down step by step.

Literature is to be defined as a form of art and like every other form of art, it provides meaning. We do not appreciate art because it has a delightful aspect, we enjoy art because it provides meaning through the process of understanding. Wolfgang Iser, German literary theoretician has put up the question if literature indeed has meaning to the reader. Therefore the text is no longer seen as an object but as a process of reading [1]. The theoretician also claimed that the text is a combination of pieces of information which are provided by the author and gaps which are left there in purpose just so that the reader can contribute to the text.

The reader has the task to provide meaning to the text, the literary work forces the reader into becoming part of the text. Furthermore, Iser’s co-founder of Constance School of Literary Theory Robert Jauss has settled that literature should not be turned into a monument. Jauss stated that a literary work “is not an object that stands by itself and that offers the same view to each reader in each period. It is not a monument that monologically reveals its timeless essence.”[2]. Therefore, the reader plays again a very important role in the text. The reader has the task to keep literature alive, he is the one that gives life to any form of art. [1: W. Iser- The Act of Reading. A Theory of Aesthetic Response 1978] [2: H. R. Jauss- Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory 1969, 1970]

Literature as a work of art cannot be separated from its author psychology. Furthermore, psychoanalytical approaches have been distinguished in many creations pointing out the importance of studying human behavior. Psychoanalysis does not only refer to observing one's acts but also at a much more profound level, concentrating on the unconscious part of the human mind also known as a “mental apparatus”[3]. The most prestigious theoretician in the psychoanalysis domain is the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud who not only that founded and theorized psychoanalysis but also had made some controversial assumptions which later have been confirmed, that had and still has a shocking effect on the audience. [3: Medical Dictionary, (from Latin) mental structure consisting of thoughts, feelings, cognitions, and memories. In psychoanalysis, the topographic structure of the mind.]

Sigmund Freud's thesis concentrates on the exploration of the unconscious, of that particular part of the human mind that has caused a lot of confusion in psychology as well as psychic therapy. A particular topic that Freud showed a lot of interest in and also theorized afterwards was the whole process of dreaming. What is a dream? What does a dream mean? Where does a dream come from? These are the questioned that are so well clarified in Sigmund Freud's book 'The Interpretation of Dreams' in which he had stated that 'each element in the content of a dream is ‘overdetermined’ by material in the dream-thought”, meaning that a dream is actually a projection of the unconscious that focuses on the dream-thoughts, the element which gives meaning to the dream-element which is the 'representative of all this disparate material in the content of a dream.”[4]. For instance, if you dream of an elephant it means that you will have good luck. It is all about the associations that one’s brain makes while dreaming. Moreover, transforming dream-thought into dream-content is a process that Freud defined as dream-work.

There can be distinguished three main dream regarded processes: dramatization referring to the transformation of dreams into situations; condensation which combines a number of dream-elements such as themes, images, figures, ideas into one and finally displacement which Freud describes it using Nietzsche’s phrase as a “transvaluation of psychical values” [5] a concept which refers to a moral system that inverts values. Confused, distorted and obscure dreams are often a matter of displacement, according to Freud. To conclude the theory of dreams, it can be summarized by saying that dreams represent wishes, obsessions that have been repressed, that appear in the dream disguised, hiding behind a symbol. Literature is the product of a writer while dreaming with the eyes open. Like a dream, literature wears the signature of the author's fantasies which are deformed, transformed into something that is getting further from the original meaning. [4: Sigmund Freud, The Essentials of Psycho-Analysis, from ‘On Dreams’ 1901] [5: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist 1895]

In addition to the study of dreams, Freud analyzes the unconscious by coming up with a revolutionary theory in which he proves that there are three levels of consciousness: the conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious. Furthermore, Freud will explain multiple arguments sustaining his concept known as the structural theory. The mental apparatus is divided into three main components: the id, the ego, and the super-ego.

The id operates unconsciously, accordingly to the pleasure principle drawn by sexual drives, compelling the organism to engage in need- satisfying and tension-reducing activities which are experienced as pleasure while, on the other side, the super-ego leans towards day-dreaming, ideals, wishes that are difficult to fulfill. The ego manages to intermediate the two components according to the reality principle which gives it the most difficult task: to obey the id and the super-ego appropriately to the demands of reality. As a result, while the id stands for untamed desires, the ego represents good-sense and reason.[6] [6: A Reader, Contemporary Critical Theory, Sigmund Freud, from ‘The Dissection of the Psychical Personality’ (1933)]

Freud’s psychoanalysis had made its way through the literary work as well. Sigmund Freud pleads for the fact that in every literary work there can be observed the author’s psychology. Hamlet, written by the famous playwright William Shakespeare is the best example in this matter. The psychoanalyst Freud himself declared that it is the “the poet’s own psychology with which we are confronted in Hamlet”[7] . He considers Hamlet “as rooted in the same oil as Oedipus Rex”[8] making a parallel between the facts that while for the Oedipus Rex the phantasy was accomplished, in Hamlet it is being repressed with a very serious standing against immorality. In the play, Hamlet wears the mask of virtues and morality but in his unconscious, there is a remaining sexual desire for his mother even from infancy. As a child, Hamlet has experienced the affection of his mother, affection that the later had to share with his father. After his father's sudden death, the possibility of his mother engaging in 'incestuous sheets'[9] with another man seems to him unacceptable. In the first soliloquy of the text Hamlet states his disagreement towards everything that is experienced as pleasure “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt/ Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!”.

The new critics have said that Hamlet’s Oedipus Complex comes from the moment of hesitation to fulfill its task to revenge his father “The play is based upon Hamlet’s hesitation in accomplishing the task of revenge assigned to him”[10], this hesitation coming from an unconscious feeling of guilt for identifying with Claudius, his step-father. From my point of view, this complex might come from not finding a suitable object of affection, one that could bury the memory of incestuous thoughts from childhood. Hamlet’s failure in what concerns his relationship to Ophelia might have also emphasized his feelings towards his mother. [7: The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud. New York, Random House, 1938, p. 310] [8: The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud. op. cit., p. 309] [9: William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2] [10: I bid ]

In conclusion, I would say that to fully understand any form of art, the image as a whole is not as important as looking for details, as going as far as it is possible to understand the author, to understand his thinking. The human mind is the most extraordinary and yet the least accessible part of our organism, something that intrigues people to find more, to acknowledge it.

Sigmund Freud’s concepts have opened a new perspective on psychology, have determined critics to dissect at a higher level literature for a better understanding of what determined the writers to create. However, to me, literature is not the product of artistic inspiration but the outcome of imagination that is a process which only occurs in the mind. Therefore, literature does not have knowledge of boundaries, it can go as far as the imagination of the author goes, as far as his ideas, thoughts, preconceptions are preserved in the unconscious.