It is clear that the most influential and elaborate interpretive system of recent times is that of psychoanalysis, which may indeed lay claim to the distinction of being the only really new and original hermeneutic developed since the patristic and medieval system of the four senses of scripture.Fredric Jameson,
The Political Unconscious(61)
Few theories, as Fredric Jameson reminds us, have had as profound and fundamental an impact on literary criticism as psychoanalysis. Yet fewer theorists have generated as much intense controversy as Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud sent shockwaves through the Viennese intellectual community when he first presented his psycho-sexual theories in the late nineteenth century, and his name has sparked heated debate ever since, both
7349 words
Citation: Sprenger, Scott. "Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 September 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1314, accessed 24 November 2024.]
