T. S. Eliot’s theory of ‘Depersonalisation’ & Freud’s theory of ‘Neurosis’

• Paper: Criticism & Literary theory• Presented by: Poojaba Jadeja• Roll No. 22• Year: 2014, semester 2 • Submitted to: Smt. S. B. Guardy

Department of English, Maharaja Krishnkumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

T. S. Eliot’s theory of ‘Depersonalisation’

& Fraud’s theory of

‘Neurosis’

References: ‘Tradition & individual talent’ by T. S. Eliot

‘The nature of criticism’ by Herbert Reed

Introduction

‘Depersonalisation’

• T. S. Eliot – critic, poet

• Theory for poets

• Exemplified theory with chemical process

‘Neurosis’• Sigmund Freud –

psychologist

• Theory for all artists

• Exemplified theory with human psychology

Theory of ‘Depersonalisation’

• Continual self-sacrifice, extinction of personality

• “The more perfect the artist, the more completely separate in him will be the man who suffers and the mind which creates”

• Poetry is a medium • Chemical process• Poet’s mind is catalyst• Like platinum

Theory of ‘Neurosis’

• Artists are neurotics• Mental process • Unfulfilled desires and feeling of inferiority• Imagination/ fantasy• Reveals his neurosis through art• Transform himself to his art

Levels of mind

personality

Depersonalisation

Depersonalisation - Neurosis

Depersonalize, escape from personality

Poetry is medium, poet’s mind is catalyst

Expression of emotion which is already in mind

Neurosis, unfulfilled desires, imaginations

Reveals through art, transformation of imagination

Free from neurosis, desires fulfilled

Examples

• John Keats’ ‘Ode TO Autumn’

• S. T. Coleridge’s ‘Kubla Khan’

• Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’

• Marry Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’

Neurosis Revealed

Thank You