Freud (with Movies!)

This course juxtaposes two great developments of the twentieth century—Freud and film. Both changed the way we understand the relation of self to body, by emphasizing that the former is a function of the latter, and, moreover that the latter is fundamentally irrational. Please note that this is primarily a course on Freud, and only secondarily a course on film. Our emphasis will be on the Freudian corpus; we will use film as a way of illustrating—but also challenging—elements of the Freudian system. We will proceed chronologically through Freud’s career, beginning with his work on hysteria in the 1890s and ending with his cultural criticism of the 1920s and 30s. Our readings of Freud will emphasize his rhetorical and figural tendencies. In other words, our primary mode of grappling with what Freud says will be by close reading how he says it.

This course is intended as an introduction; no prior knowledge of Freud will be expected. We will read Freud in English translation; students with German will be encouraged to bring their insights to our rhetorical readings.

Sample Texts:
The Interpretation of Dreams (selections)
Dora: Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria
“Mourning and Melancholia”
“The Uncanny”
Beyond the Pleasure Principle
“A Child is Being Beaten”
Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego
The Ego & the Id (selections)
Civilization and its Discontents

Sigmund Freud (Routledge Critical Thinkers)—Pamela Thurschwell

Sample Films:
Rebecca—Hitchcock (1940)
Dottie Gets Spanked—Haynes (1993)
Under the Sand—Ozon (2000)
A History of Violence—Cronenberg (2005)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind—Gondry (2004)

The secondary literature on Freud is immense. We will sample this literature in class (including essays by Rose, Phillips, Hertz, Derrida, Butler) and incorporate a library orientation session into our studies.

Requirements: two papers (3 & 10 pp), a mid-term and a final exam (take home).
*Limited enrollment of 30