Week #4: Dracula & psychoanalysis.

[Saturday: I just noticed that this never went up on the blog, so here it is, a bit late.]

This week, I'm looking for two things in your blog postings: your close reading skills and your understanding of psychoanalysis. Parts of psychoanalysis may be difficult, while others may be familiar--we live in a post-Freud world, after all--but do your best to work through the essays.

Part one: Rather than me give you questions you might apply in a psychoanalytic reading, I'd like you to generate them yourself, based on what Murfin explains and how Foster (he's definitely male, by the way) approaches the theory in his essay. What do you think a psychoanalytic critic might ask of a text? What kinds of symbols or patterns might s/he look for? Could it intersect with other methodologies we've discussed? What might be problematic about psychoanalysis?

Part two: Choose a psychoanalytic element that interests you. (Review Murfin and Foster for ideas.) Find a passage or two from Dracula that reflects this element and explain how it reflects it. Remember, general rule of thumb in literary criticism: claim --> evidence to support that claim --> explanation of why you chose this evidence to support that claim.

Also, as I mentioned yesterday, focus on just 1-2 ideas rather than unleashing the tidal wave of your genius thoughts out at me. I'm only one person! Seriously, though: developing a few ideas with close reading and in-depth analysis leads to a much stronger argument than just a laundry list of ideas.

Enjoy the snow--and I'll see you next week.

P.S. As the paper's coming up, you should start giving it some consideration. Please e-mail or come to my office hours if you want to discuss it or need help. You can also visit the 150 tutoring sessions or Writing Center for outside help, as well.