Thursday, March 07, 2019

Psychoanalysis, a Long Poem and a Short Story - Jung, Browning, and Vonnegut

My father was a psychiatrist. Those who have some acquaintance with the field will immediately think of Freud. A few might also recall Jung. My father was averse to Freud and I have inherited that phobia. Freud appears obsessed with sex. And I admit that I have not read his works and that my bias is based on what I have heard of his theories and how I see their influence. However, as he is not the focus here, I leave you to do the digging. 


Freud, father of psychoanalysis. Google Images - CC BY-SA 4.0

When I was a child I grew up in a house where books reigned supreme and among those was Carl Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections

Upload by Adrian Michael - Ortsmuseum Zollikon, Public Domain
Though not without faults, Jung's was one of modern history's most intriguing minds and Memories, Dreams, Reflections presents a rare, infinitely insightful glimpse of its inner workings...

Maria Popova

Read it hereAs for me, Jung brought me the concept of persona and of archetypes. Again, it's just in a crude way and so for me, persona is 
a face to meet the faces that you meet

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - T S Eliot

And as for archetypes, it is a fascinating concept. 


These archaic and mythic characters that make up the archetypes reside with all people from all over the world, Jung believed, and it is these archetypes that symbolize basic human motivations, values, and personalities. He believed that each archetype played a role in personality, but felt that most people were dominated by one specific archetype. The actual way in which an archetype is expressed or realized depends upon a number of factors including an individual's cultural influences and unique personal experiences.Jung identified four major archetypes, but also believed that there was no limit to the number that may exist.

The 4 Major Jungian Archetypes


Now, that I've dangled a morsel of psychoanalysis over you, I have to confess that Adler is whom I really want to look into at some point!
Having dragged you through your subconscious, I shall now let you down gently with a poem about murder. From the past. Browning's brooding protagonist is driven by the demons of the subconscious:


Arthur Hughes [Public domain]

Porphyria's Lover 
The rain set early in to-night,
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
And did its worst to vex the lake:
I listened with heart fit to break.
When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;
Which done, she rose, and from her form⁠
Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,
And laid her soiled gloves by, untied
Her hat and let the damp hair fall,
And, last, she sat down by my side
And called me.

Robert Browning

Click on the poet's name above to read what happened next!

And from the dungeons of the past I now fling you into a far future with Kurt Vonnegut's Report on the Barnhouse Effect.

The story reflects archetypes related to war. A good tale for those of us who appear to have forgotten the cost of conflicts between countries. Listen to it here:





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2 comments:

Preeti Chauhan said...

What a web of Psychoanalysis!Porphyria's Lover seems a good choice to nudge us into reading up a bit of personality analysis.

Gita Madhu said...

Thank you, Dr. Preeti Chauhan. I'm so honoured that you visited and read. Hopefully, 'Porphyria's Lover' will remain an abstract study :D. Did you try the Vonnegut? I am not used to audio tracks for books but I feel they are increasingly popular.