Theories of the Mind

(as of Autumn 1998.)

This page links to a range of materials on the subject of Psychoanalysis and Literature. I have lectures on the topic, I give a course designed for second and third year students on it, and I have provided reading lists, web links, and a set of literary texts suitable for psychoanalytic interpretation.

The latest version (99-00) of the Theories of the Mind is here.

Lectures

• Here is a sequence of six lectures I give to first year students: two on Freud; two on dream interpretation and CG Jung; one on Lacan and French theory, and one on Lacan.
• And here is a lecture for second/third year students, called Freud Dora Lacan.

Note: the links to the lectures are deactivated during October and most of November, that is, from the beginning of the semester until I have delivered the lectures. And most of the links to the course are deactivated until the course is running.

Theories of the Mind Course

I teach a course entitled 'Theories of the Mind' to second and third year students. Here are the course materials, week by week, and other bits and pieces relevant to the course. Most of these links will become live after the course starts, week by week.

This is now in need of revision, since it refers to a one semester course, and the course will now (ie from next year) run for two semesters.

Contents

• Introduction to the Course
• Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
• Feedback on the course from the students
• Reading Lists
• Useful Web links
• Freudian texts (selected by the students)
• The Workshop
• Workshop handout

Week 1

The course handout is [being revised]. This is a complete introduction to the course, aims, objectives, teaching method, expectations, and so on. Also it contains the first assignment, for the following week.



Week 2: Freudian words

• Handout for the class
• The work for the following week
• The correspondence course. (What is the correspondence course?)
• A set of Freudian definitions is [will be] here.

Week 3: Goblin Market

• Handout for the class
• Images:
  • Christina Rossetti
  • The sisters
  • Cutting the hair
• The work for the following week

Week 4: Freudian texts

• Freudian texts (selected by the students as suitable for Freudian analysis)
• The work for the following week: get on the Web and tell me you've done so.

Week 5: discussion of Freud

• Free-range discussion of Freud and literature: no handout, no correspondence course
• The work for the following week
• Here are helpful definitions of all of the Jungian words.

Week 6: Jung introduction

• Jung lecture (6.00 pm Monday)
• The work for the following week
• Joseph Campbell book list
• The correspondence course
• Preparation for the Workshop: themes and groups
• Here are helpful definitions of all of the Jungian words.

Week 7

• No meeting: Reading Week

Week 8: Jung and Campbell, applications (1)

• Class discussion: Kubla Khan, the Black School.
• The correspondence course
• The work for the following week.

Week 9: Jung and Campbell, applications (2)

• The correspondence course
• The work for the following week.

Week 10: Lacan

• Lecture on Lacan (these are the headings on which the lecture was based).

Week 11: preparation for the Workshop

• Discussion of the presentations, each individual group meeting me in turn during the seminar hour.

• The Theories of the Mind Workshop (Sunday, December 9, 1997)
• Last year's workshop (Sunday, December 8, 1996)

Week 12: winding down, winding up.

• Students write feedback on the course; I see students individually to discuss essays, give feedback on presentations, etc.
• Feedback from students 97/8.
• Feedback from students 96/7.
• No feedback for 98/9: I had flu

Freudian texts

• Here is a set of literary texts that the students of this course in 1996 thought were appropriate for Freudian analysis, with notes on possible analyses.

Reading lists

• Here are reading lists for Freud, Jung, and Lacan.

Web links

• Here are links for Web searching for material on Freud and Jung and Lacan.