International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature
Freud and Literature: between Science and Intuition
Dr. Tarek Musleh
Professor of English Literature at Jadara University, Jordan
Copyright :Dr. Tarek Musleh, Freud and Literature: between Science and Intuition International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature
Abstract
It is generally assumed that science is involved in the world of facts and material proof that is based on experimentation, whereas intuition, which largely depends on human impulse, doest not demand decisive evidence and is usually influenced by culture.
Freud has established psychoanalysis as a new science, and his theories have somewhat shaped modern thought. He has a scientific turn of mind but some of his conclusions were strained and perhaps influenced by his personal intuition and judgments. He presents a negative view of writers by drawing on their work and emphasizing their neurosis and escapism. He exaggerates the role of sex in our life, especially infantile sexuality and the Oedipus complex. He assumes the superiority of males through his theory of the penis envy. And possibly, influenced by the present conditions of life, he establishes the death wish as an integral part of human desire to return to oblivion.