2021/22 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue
ENGL5345M Reading (with) Psychoanalysis
30 creditsClass Size: 22
Module manager: Dr Nicholas Ray
Email: n.j.ray@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2021/22
Pre-requisite qualifications
As for MA programmeThis module is not approved as an Elective
Objectives
On completion of this module students will have developed a substantial knowledge of a number of foundational works by Freud and a selection of key texts by subsequent psychoanalytic authors.Students will also have developed an ability to bring psychoanalytic critical strategies to bear on a range of cultural texts.
Skills outcomes
Masters (Taught), Postgraduate Diploma & Postgraduate Certificate students will have had the opportunity to acquire the following abilities as defined in the modules specified for the programme:
- the skills necessary to undertake a higher research degree and/or for employment in a higher capacity;
- evaluating their own achievement and that of others;
- self direction and effective decision making;
- independent learning and the ability to work in a way which ensures continuing professional development;
- to engage critically in the development of professional/disciplinary boundaries and norms.
Syllabus
This module plots a cumulative trajectory through psychoanalytic theory and examines a range of approaches to reading cultural texts from psychoanalytic perspectives. Beginning with Freud’s early abandonment of the ‘seduction theory’, the module addresses a number of key concerns in his subsequent work – e.g. drive theory (sexual drives and death drives), fetishism, repetition, transference, trauma – and attempts to explicate and interrogate them with reference to a series of cultural works, including Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s novella Venus in Furs, JG Ballard’s novel Crash, Robert Aickman’s short tale ‘The Inner Room’, and Peter Greenway’s film The Pillow Book. The critical approach of the module is determined not only by Freud’s preoccupations but by the work of numerous post-Freudian thinkers and clinicians, such as Jacques André, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Lacan, Adam Phillips and D.W. Winnicott. There is also a strong emphasis on the work of the French psychoanalyst and philosopher Jean Laplanche. Throughout the module we will be concerned both with how psychoanalytic theory can enable us to ask critical questions of cultural texts, and how the strategies of textual analysis can enable us to think and rethink the nuances of psychoanalytic theory.
Teaching methods
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
| Seminar | 10 | 2.00 | 20.00 |
| Private study hours | 280.00 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20.00 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 300.00 | ||
Private study
- Preparatory reading for seminars- Independent research for assessed essays.
Opportunities for Formative Feedback
- One unassessed essay of 2,000 words- Weekly oral presentations.
Methods of assessment
Coursework
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
| Essay | One 4,000 word essay | 100.00 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100.00 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Reading list
The reading list is available from the Library websiteLast updated: 22/02/2022 12:11:00
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- Undergraduate module catalogue
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