Course summary

What is that dark and fascinating place beneath the conscious mind, and how does it manifest in conscious thought? Many philosophers have proposed that ‘poetic thinking’ is a key to the unconscious. This course explores key ideas of the unconscious through Romantic and Modernist literature. We will analyse some of the most powerful texts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the poetry of William (1794), James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922), Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915), D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers (1913), and Virginia Woolf’s The Waves (1931).

Aims

The aim of this course is to interrogate the unconscious in the works studied and to develop core skills in literary analysis. It will provide an enjoyable, interactive and stimulating learning environment in which to explore new ideas amongst the class. We will be engaging with some truly beautiful literature. Also, the philosophical understanding of the unconscious can be applied in many other areas of cultural production such as the visual arts and film. 

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• identify the elements of storytelling and fiction
• understand the history of the invention of the unconscious in the novel
• identify the internal elements which constitute the novel form
• discuss the philosophical ideas in a range of novels
• apply the theory of fiction to contemporary works of fiction.

Content

Introduction: What is the Unconscious?

The unconscious consists in those workings, or attributes of the mind which produce thought and action, knowledge and creativity, without the need for conscious control or choice. William Blake’s (1974) ontology of the _“living dead_” is the example of this idea. Even without an explicit metaphysical theory, the unconscious is understood by many later writers and artists as being able to access some ‘deeper’ kind of knowledge than the conscious mind. 

Goethe, Coleridge and Bronte

The rise of the Romantic unconscious in the self and its connection to nature. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1817) explores the idea that access to the unconscious may be aided through experimentation with mind altering substances. Charlotte Bronte (1847) investigates the idea of the irreducibility of emotion to ordered, rational thought.

D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers (1913)

The civilised voice of the superego is played out against the powerful forces of the id: pleasure against duty; reason against desire. Sons and Lovers (1913) tackles issues of sex, power, possession and how to deal with the problem of those who love us too much.

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915)

The Metamorphosis begins with one of the most iconic opening lines in literature: “As Gregor Sams awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect” (Don’t we all feel like that some mornings!). We will explore ideas of the self, identity crisis, and the struggle of the mind and body to maintain a unified, creative self-image.

James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) and Virginia Woolf

Both Joyce and Woolf invent literary techniques which become mainstays of Modernist literature. Both also employ stream of conscious writing. We will ask: Does stream of consciousness writing expose unconscious thought?

Who this course is for

Anyone with a general interest in philosophy and the course themes.

Prerequisites

None

Delivery style

Lecture/seminar

Delivery mode

Online via the platform Zoom

Materials

Course handouts are shared electronically.

Recommended reading

Bibliography:

• Brooker, P., Gąsiorek, A. and Longworth, D. (eds) (2024) The Oxford Handbook of Modernisms, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• Ffytche, M. 2020, The Modernist Road to the Unconscious, New York, Routledge.
• Trigoni, T. 2022, The Intelligent Unconscious in Modernist Literature and Science, New York, Routledge.