Literature and object relations psychoanalysis have intersected in a wide variety of ways ever since the theory’s early forms were elaborated by Karl Abraham and Melanie Klein. I will begin this overview by briefly discussing the core tenets of object relations theory, and will go on to suggest four tools that object relations offers literary critics: a new perspective on the act of symbol formation and creative production, a new understanding of the very scene of reading, and a new interpretations for the symbolism and narrative trajectory of certain texts, particularly texts examining the mother-child relationship and texts examining modernity as strangely psychotic. Object-relations also offers tools for literary critics examining the psychic process of identification, which is of…

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Citation: Wasson, Sara. "Object Relations". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 January 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=782, accessed 27 November 2024.]