THE DYNAMICS OF LITERARY RESPONSE

by Norman N. Holland ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 25, 1968

Anal, oral, phallic, masochism, primal scene. . . ""I would say that the single most common fantasy-structure in literature is phallic assertiveness balanced against oral engulfment."" ""The final image of On the Road: urinating off the back of a speeding truck"" is a fine example of ""the urethral in literature."" And so it goes, another disciple of Papa Freud lighting the dark recesses of the creative mind, though Freud himself said that in that area the psychoanalyst should lay down his arms. Professor Holland's articulate (oral), somewhat unyielding (anal), but generally potent (phallic) study of the masked appeal of literary forms and the psychic responses they draw from the reader is of course similar to countless other works, especially Professor Lesser's Fiction and the Unconscious. But it is decidedly more ambitious, streamlined, au courant (films, plays, novels, poems), with some first rate set pieces (the matriarchal attraction-repulsion rhythms in Fellini, ""the dualism of controller and controlled"" in Conrad). In a number of places Holland's aesthetic sense and clinical terminology do not always jibe (a condition known as the schizophrenic hazards of psychological literary criticism in general). Nevertheless, the scope, the demonstration of interlocking components within the consciousness of the artist and that of his audience, is remarkably varied, disciplined, and astute.

Pub Date: April 25, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Oxford

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION