Myth as symbol : a psychoanalytic study in contemporary German literature / by Sonia Saporiti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Saporiti, Sonia, 1975-

Contributor:

Department of Germanic Languages Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

German literature--History and criticism.

German literature.

Mythology in literature.

Symbolism in literature.

German literature--Psychological aspects.

Physical Description:

viii, 180 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Pub., 2013.

Summary:

The mythological patrimony is an excellent example of the unconscious creative ability that brings reason both to the existence of myth as well as to its symbolic function. Reconsidering the connection between literature and psychoanalysis, this study starts from the Jungian archetypal theory up to the Freudian unconscious and its ability to produce symbols, and provides the tools for a reading of the phenomenon of the literary rework, in the modern age, of meaningful themes and mythological figures. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I The Creative Unconscious. Myth and Symbolic Dimension

Chapter 1 The Creative Unconscious 7

1 C.G. Jung: Die Komplexenlehre

2 The Complex Doctrine and the Archetypal Hypothesis

3 The Symbolizing Unconscious

Chapter 2 The Myth and Its Symbolic Dimension 31

1 The Myth as Symbol

2 The Solar Hero and the Chthonian Deities

Part II Water Spirits

Chapter 3 The Beginning: The Romantic Tale Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué 41

1 Utopian and Regressive Tendencies in the Romantic Tale Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué

2 Ancient Powers and Bourgeois Virtues

Chapter 5 Melusine and the Ophidian Feminine 59

1 The Myth of Melusine

2 A Psychoanalytic Reading of the Myth of Melusine

3 The Melusine by Ludwig Tieck: the Water and the Fairy

Chapter 5 Variations on the Myth of Undine 77

1 Lorelei, Nixen, and other Wasserfrauen in the Work of Joseph von Eichendorff

2 Undine geht, a Monologue by Ingeborg Bachmann

Part III Medea

Chapter 6 A Divine Origin and a Deadly Destiny: The Myth of Medea 97

1 Medea in Colchis

2 Medea in Corinth

3 Euripides' Medea

Chapter 7 The Theme of the Infanticide in the Variations of Medea's Myth 109

1 The Phantom of the "Dreadful Mother"

2 The "Medea Complex"

Chapter 8 Between Utopia and Disillusionment: The Postmodern Medea

1 "Doch hoffe ich, Medea hört mich nicht" by Katja Lange-Miiller

2 Verkommenes Ufer Medeamaterial Landschaft mit Argonauten by Heiner Müller

3 Medea. Stimmen by Christa Wolf.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [161]-176) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Department of Germanic Languages Book Fund.

ISBN:

1443845310

9781443845311

OCLC:

827083199

Publisher Number:

99953366867