The monster within : between the onset and resolution of the oedipal crisis
Minulescu, Iulia Ruxandra (2019) The monster within : between the onset and resolution of the oedipal crisis. Doctoral thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.
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Abstract
This thesis, The monster within: between the onset and resolution of the oedipal crisis, is located at the intersection between psychoanalysis, philosophy and myth, and builds on all three to look at the formation of the psyche. Drawing on Freudian and Lacanian theories, I interrogate the emergence of psychic structures that constitute subjectivity and argue that an un-theorised psychic structure operates at the level of the pre-oedipal and is not assimilated by phallic law. I suggest this element is a fully-formed transcendental ego that is overwritten but not annihilated in the oedipal phase, and continues to exist beneath the constituted ego. I term this a non-Symbolic subject, to show it possesses a transcendental ego and is a subject, but it has not been habituated into phallic norms. I argue the existence of the non-Symbolic subject stems from the primacy given to the father as possessor of the phallus, and the secondary function the mother occupies in psychic development. To support my argument, I use an ancient Greek tragedy, The Bacchae, due to its compartmentalisation of sexual difference and almost dogmatically defined gender roles. Following Irigaray, I return to Greek tragedy to interrogate the male imaginary and identify the elements that structure the psyche. My aim is to argue that the conceptualisation of the subject with which Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis operates is historical, not universal; by positing a pre-phallic subjectivity, I seek to show that subjectivity need not be restricted to the replication of the image of the Father. Using the non-Symbolic subject as a critical tool, I attempt to expand the psychoanalytical theoretical language and help theory move beyond the oedipal, towards a space where subjectification around the Father becomes a historical occurrence, not a condition for existence as a subject to be possible.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Copyright Holders: | The copyright of this thesis rests with the author, who asserts his/her right to be known as such according to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. No dealing with the thesis contrary to the copyright or moral rights of the author is permitted. |
| Depositing User: | Acquisitions And Metadata |
| Date Deposited: | 23 May 2019 14:35 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2023 13:55 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40397 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.18743/PUB.00040397 |
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