Madness, badness, sadness: Aldous Huxley and the shifting shadow of psychoanalysis

[摘要] The influence of Freud on Huxley’s fiction has been frequently understated in criticism. Examining key periods both in history and in Huxley’s life, this thesis reassesses the long-held critical belief that Freud was frequently dismissed by Huxley as ‘bunk’, instead proposing that psychoanalysis was in fact one of Huxley’s major and most enduring intellectual obsessions. Whilst engaging with some of his major novels, this thesis is also concerned with the short stories and novellas that have received rather less critical attention, collectively revealing both the depth and nature of Huxley’s obsession with the concepts of psychoanalysis. This thesis is a radical revision of this contested facet of criticism, proposing that Freud and psychoanalysis were never the subject of satirical attack, but were instead weapons in the satirical artillery against a post-war society that grew increasingly neurotic.

[发布机构] University:University of Birmingham;Department:School of English, Drama and American & Canadian Studies, Department of English Literature

[关键词] P Language and Literature;PR English literature