Mimetic Desire: Essays on Narcissism in German Literature from Romanticism to Postmodernism

by Jeffrey Adams and Eric Williams

Jeffrey Adams (Editor), Eric Williams (Editor), and Professor Jeffrey Adams (Editor)

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This important collection of essays opens new pyschological perspectives on writers such as Tieck, Goethe, Freud, Thomas Mann, Heidegger and Thomas Bernhard. Psychological approaches to literature have grown rapidly in the last few decades, new developments in literary psychoanalysis mirroring the reassessment of Freud in the psychoanalytic community; particularly important revisions have come both from the Lacanian school, and from the field of object relations and self-psychology. The latter studies narcissism not only as a pathological condition, but as a healthy and universal aspect of all psychological reality. Theorists such as Heinz Kohut have also suggested that the transformations of narcissism can be healthy and may contribute to the development of wisdom, humour and creativity. The articles in this volume consider the phenomenon of narcissism across a wide range of works, several reflecting the current re-evaluations of narcissism as a counter-challenge to Freudian thought and attitudes.
  • ISBN10 1879751917
  • ISBN13 9781879751910
  • Publish Date 28 September 1995
  • Publish Status Active
  • Out of Print 28 May 2021
  • Publish Country US
  • Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
  • Imprint Camden House Inc
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 240
  • Language English