Psychology and Literature--Carl Gustav Jung

Bharathiar University  

MPhil (English) Study Materials  

PAPER II – APPROACHES TO LITERATURE

Unit IV

C.G.Jung (Lodge, pp 175-227)

Psychology and Literature

Carl Gustav Jung

By S. Sreekumar

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 –1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung’s work has been influential not only in psychiatry but also in anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy and religious studies. Freud wanted him to be his potential heir to carry on his "new science" of psychoanalysis. However, Jung's researches and personal vision were different from Freud’s and a breach took place between the two.

Unit II The Seventeenth Century I--John Dryden

Unit II The Seventeenth Century I: Peacham, Drayton, Reynolds, Milton (Blamires, pp. 68-216)

Unit II The Seventeenth Century I: Peacham, Drayton, Reynolds, Milton (Blamires, pp. 68-216)

JOHN DRYDEN

(1631-1700)

I. His Critical Works

The following are the critical works of Dryden: -

1.An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

2.The Apology for Heroic Poetry.

3.The Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy.

4.Preface to the Fables.

Dryden has also spoken about the nature and functions of poetry.

II. The Nature of Poetry.

Longinus

A HISTORY OF LITERARY CRITICISM—HARRY BLAMIERS

UNIT I

S. Sreekumar

This is a part of the summary of the first chapter of the book by Harry Blamiers. The rest of the summary will be published later.  
Longinus

Introduction

The identity of Longinus is not clear. But for modern readers, he is more familiar than Plato, Aristotle or Horace. The tract ‘On the Sublime’ is associated with Longinus, whatever may be his identity.

Longinus lists the ingredients of sublimity thus:

1. Grandeur of thought.

This he considers the ‘concomitant (connected, related) of a great soul’. Longinus quotes examples from Homer to point out that when a great soul is truly inspired, he lays before the reader what could have been conceived only by a man of noble spirit.

ARISTOTLE [B.C. 384—322]--Additional materials on Aristotle

ARISTOTLE [B.C. 384—322]

[Additional materials on Aristotle, useful for Research scholars]

Introduction

Aristotle was the most distinguished disciple of Plato. He is believed to have written nearly half a dozen critical treatises, of which only two survive—Poetics and Rhetoric. Poetics deal with the art of poetry and Rhetoric deals with the art of speaking.

Poetics

Poetics is not a mere enunciation of the principles of the poetic art. Its conclusions are firmly rooted in Greek Literature.

ARISTOTLE, Bharathiar University--M.Phil English

A HISTORY OF LITERARY CRITICISM—HARRY BLAMIERS

UNIT I (Bharathiar University--M.Phil English)

S. Sreekumar

This is a part of the summary of the first chapter of the book by Harry Blamiers. The rest of the summary will be published later.  

1. THE CLASSICAL AGE——PLATO, ARISTOTLE, HORACE, LONGINUS

ARISTOTLE

Introduction

Aristotle was the student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great. He established his academy, the Lyceum in Athens. His method of lecture walking up and down earned his school the title, ‘peripatetie’.

“If Plato was the first thinker... (noted) for his commentary on the human influence of imaginative literature, Aristotle was the first thinker to produce a work of literary criticism, the Poetics ...”

The Poetics has influenced literary criticism for more than two thousand years.

Indian Poetics--Theory

Indian Poetics

Introduction

Rasa theory of Bharata—in Vedas,  rasa means sap or essence—experience of the supreme reality. Seers of the Vedas knew about the need for ‘Sahridayatwa’ to understand poetry. Valmiki’s sloka—overpowered by the intense feeling of pathos—karunarasa of Ramayana—kraunca birds.

Bharata lived during the first or second part of the first century B.C. deals with various aspects of dramaturgy. Drama was a much developed art during his times. Gives a proper definition to rasa in his Natyashastra.

Ö  Between Bharata and Anandavardhana –Bhamaha who was more interested in style. He held much respect for alamkara (embellishments). Believed that poetry must inculcate moral feelings.

Ö  Dandin believed that lucidity, sweetness, richness, and grandeur constituted poetry.

Ö  Vamaha—style or ‘riti’ was the soul of poetry.

Ö  Anandavardhana—author of Dhwanyaloka  formulated the rasa theory in categorical terms—rasa cannot be directly expressed—only through ‘dhwani’, rasa gets expressed

Ö  Abhinavagupta was a commentator of Dhwanyaloka.  He wrote Locana and Abhinavabharathi. He believed that the sahridaya realizes rasa which is alaukika—transcendental, ineffable, cannot be experienced. Somewhat like the ‘sublime’ of Longinus.

Ö  Kuntaka, a contemporary of Abhinavagupta believed that vakrokti—a deviation from the ordinary mode of speech constitute the essence of poetry—Vakroktijivita.

Ö  Mahimabhatta—a powerful logician—founder of the ‘anumana’ school—principle of suggestion.

Ö  Kshemendra—auchityavichara—propriety.

Bharata—Natyashastra

Bharata explains samgraha, karika and nirukta (Digest, memorial verse and etymology)

When subjects taught in detail have been compressed and brought together in sastras and their bhasyas we can call it samgraha.

Vakrokti of Kuntaka--Criticism & Theory

Kuntaka--Vakrokti

Kuntaka was an 11^th century poetician who has brilliantly anticipated many concepts used in the 20^th century criticism.

His theory of Vakrokti is a comprehensive one. It means figurativeness and obliquity of expression. It is a manifestation of the basic obliquity of the poet’s creative process.

According to Kuntaka, vakrokti or figurativeness manifests at 6 levels of expression in poetry:

Phonetic,

Lexical,

Grammatical,

Sentential,

Contextual, and

Compositional.

There is a surprising similarity between Kuntaka’s vakrokti and the concept of style as ‘deviation from the norm’ seen in modern stylistics. However it is equally important that while stylistics is concerned with phonological, grammatical and lexical aspects of the language, Kuntaka takes into account larger units of discourse also, such as context and composition itself taken as a whole. This enables him to view the entire gamut of the poetic creation from the point of view of artistic efficacy.

Phonetic figurativeness (Varnavinyasa Vakrata)—encompasses alliteration, rhyme, and all other subtle effects of sound in poetry. Kuntaka recognises onomatopoeic effects. Shakespeare’s ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’.

Lexical figurativeness (padapurvardha Vakrata)—includes stylistic choice in vocabulary, metaphor, power of adjectives and veiled expressions. For example, carefully concealing a Mahapataka—“Is he despatche’d”

Grammatical figurativeness ( pratyaya vakrata)—involves the deft use of suffixes, especially those indicating numbers, person, and case forms. It also includes delineation of inanimate objects as animate and personification of objects—instead of saying ‘tense’—‘make my seated heart knock at my ribs’.

Sentential Figurativeness (Vakyavakrata)—it is the permeating presence that enters all other elements. The effect is akin to a painter’s stroke that shines out distinctively from the beauty of the material used. Most of the figures of speech are instances of it.

                                    ‘Out, out, brief candle

                                    Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player

                                    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

                                    And then is heard no more….”

Kuntaka’s theory does not stop with the analysis of sentence as is done in stylistic studies, since techniques like contextual and compositional figurativeness analyse larger segments of the discourse than the sentence.

Contextual figurativeness (Prakarana vakrata) comprises all those factors which contribute to the strikingness of the context. The equivocation in the prediction of witches, culminating in the materialisation of the Birnamwood coming to Dunsinane, the  emergence of Macduff, ‘untimely ripp’d from his mother’s womb’ to kill Macbeth, the apparition of the witches and the sleep walking scene are examples of contextual figurativeness.

Compositional figurativeness ( Prabandha vakrata). This includes adaptation of  a story from a well-known source with new twists added to it, with a new emotional significance, deletion of unnecessary episodes, the development of even minor incidents into events of far reaching consequences and strikinglness. Kuntaka regards  a  literary composition as an allegory which conveys some profound moral message and this moral content is also regarded as a compositional figurativeness.

Duncan from a young and unsatisfactory monarch into a venerable old man so that his murder seems more gruesome. Conversion of a catalogue of crime and bloodshed in Holinshed into a profound study of guilt and self-destruction.

Kuntaka looks upon the literary piece as a whole from an essentially artistic angle, where the creativity of the poet is at play in fashioning out an artifact. This perspective should suit any work of art, especially literary masterpieces of all-time greats. However, an exploration of a work of art from Kuntaka’s perspective necessitates an understanding of the literary norm, from which the poet effects creative deviation. The literary norm, unlike in modern stylistics encompasses extra-linguistic features like context and composition. Both linguistic and extra linguistic aspects of art are encompassed in a comprehensive aesthetic theory with creativeness as its aesthetic mark.

                                   

Rasa, Dhwani and Auchitya—some additional materials--Criticism & Theory

Rasa, Dhwani and Auchitya—some additional materials

Materials taken from a project summited to the UGC
S. Sreekumar

Bharatha’s Rasa, Anandavardhana’s Dhwani and Kshemendra’s Aucitya are considered the cardinal concepts of Indian Aesthetics by many Indian aestheticians like C.D. Narasimhaiah (East West Poetics at Work) and V. Raghavan (Some Concepts of Alankarasastra). Kapil Kapoor also endorses the importance of these concepts in no uncertain terms (Literary Theory: Indian Conceptual Framework)            

2.1 Rasa theory

Rasa is produced from a combination of determinants (vibhavas), consequents (anubhavas) and transitory states. Is there any dristanta for it?

DHVANI or “Suggestive Poetry”--Indian Aesthetics

 DHVANI or “Suggestive Poetry”--Indian Aesthetics

The kind of poetry where the conventional meaning is secondary or the conventional meaning of the words becomes secondary and the implied meaning becomes more important is called DHVANI or “Suggestive Poetry’.

· Explicit meaning is not very important in suggestive poetry.

· Simile and alliteration make the explicit meaning or sound important and cannot be called suggestive poetry.

· Suggestion is conditioned by only the relation between the suggested and the person or thing that suggests. It is never found in the beauty of the expressed and the expression.

Some people may argue that suggestion can be brought under    such figures of speech as Condensed Metaphor, Paraleipsis, Metonymy, Periphrasis, Fancied Denial, Ellipsis, implying a simile, and merging of figures, since we have a clear perception of the implicit meaning in these. It is in order to refute such as argument that the words, ‘renders itself or its meaning secondary’ etc have been included in the text.

BHAMAHA—KAVYALANKARA

1. Bhamaha on the importance of poetry.Criticism & Theory

a. Composition of good poetry makes one capable in the pursuit of dharma, artha Kama and moksa. It also confers pleasure and fame.

b. Knowledge of Sastras possessed by one who is not a poet is like the pauper’s charitableness, the eunuch’s dexterity in arms, and the fool’s self-confidence.

c. What is wealth without modesty? What is night without the moon? What is cleverness of speech without the capacity to compose good literary works?

d. Even the dull-witted can learn Sastras with the help of a teacher. But poetry is for whom who has a natural capacity.

e. Even to those who have passed away to svarga but who have composed good literary works there surely exists a body consisting of their works which is both beautiful and free from disease.

Rasa theory of Bharata--Criticism & Theory

Rasa theory of Bharata
S. Sreekumar

Rasa theory of Bharata—in Vedas,  rasa means sap or essence—experience of the supreme reality. Seers of the Vedas knew about the need for ‘Sahridayatwa’ to understand poetry. Valmiki’s sloka—overpowered by the intense feeling of pathos—karunarasa of Ramayana—kraunca birds.

Bharata lived during the first or second part of the first century B.C. deals with various aspects of dramaturgy. Drama was a much developed art during his times. Gives a proper definition to rasa in his Natyashastra.

Bharata—Natyashastra

Bharata explains samgraha, karika and nirukta (Digest, memorial verse and etymology)

When subjects taught in detail have been compressed and brought together in sastras and their bhasyas we can call it samgraha.

Odysseus’ Scar--Erich Auerbach--Criticism & Theory

Odysseus’ Scar

Erich Auerbach

S. Sreekumar

Erich Auerbach, Mimesis : [Auerbach was one of those towering European intellectuals, with encyclopedic knowledge of almost everything, who gave real meaning to the word scholarship. A German Jew (b. 1892), Auerbach had a distinguished academic career—studying and teaching law, art history, comparative literature, Romance languages, and Latin philology—until the mid-30s, when the Nazis came to power. He spent the war years in Turkey, where—without benefit of his library or research materials—he wrote Mimesis, a study of Western culture and imagination that includes detailed discussions of Homer, Dante, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Goethe, Woolf, among others. He explained the difficulties this way: Mimesis "was written during the war and at Istanbul, where the libraries are not well equipped for European studies. International communications were impeded; I had to dispense with almost all periodicals, with almost all the more recent investigations, and in some cases with reliable critical editions of my texts. . . . The lack of technical literature and periodicals may also serve to explain that my book has no notes." Evidently, Auerbach relied on his prodigious memory quite as much as the Istanbul libraries.

SPIVAK— Feminism and Critical Theory

SPIVAK— Feminism and Critical Theory

[Lecture notes by Dr. S. Sree Kumar]

As the translator of Jacques Derrida’s De la Grammatologie (as Of Grammatology) she helped to introduce deconstructive critical strategies not only into literary criticism but also into wider cultural analysis. 

    Spivak’s introduction to the translation provides one of the most cogent (convincing, logical) accounts of deconstruction’s potential political agenda = the emphasis placed on deconstruction’s capacity to unmake apparently agreed ‘truths’ (good / evil, God / devil, man / woman—unmaking binaries, privileged term trying to displace the other—process continuing—trace) by reference to their ultimate derivation from linguistic structures alone.

     Our confidence in finite (limited, restricted, fixed, predetermined) meanings can be sustained (continued, examples like ‘meaning’, ‘cat’) only if we ignore the constant capacity of the language to suggest ‘supplementary’ or excess semantic associations.

      Spivak’s allegiance [loyalty, commitment, faithfulness] to the above perceptions is at best preliminary. She believed that the persistent deferral of meaning [difference, differance] will not of itself ensure a more liberal sexual politics or the dismantling of sexist socio-political structures.

FEMINIST CRITICISM IN THE WILDERNESS--Elaine Showalter--Criticism & Theory

Elaine Showalter

FEMINIST CRITICISM IN THE WILDERNESS

[lecture notes by Dr. S. Sree Kumar]

          Contemporary feminist criticism derived its inspiration from the Women’s Liberation Movement of the late 1960s. Mary Ellman’s Thinking About Women and Kate Millet’s Sexual Politics are the pioneering books in this respect.

          The initial effort of feminist critics was to revise orthodox ‘male’ literary history, exposing sexual stereotyping in canonical texts and reinterpreting or reviving the work of women writers. Showalter’s A Literature of Their Own was a major contribution to this project, but by the late 1970s it seemed to her that feminist criticism had reached ‘a theoretical impasse’. In a lecture entitled ‘Towards a Feminist Poetics’ she attributed the impasse to the essentially male character of ‘theory’ itself, as practised and professionally institutionalized in the academy.