The seminar explores a wide selection of texts by Sigmund Freud, especially those that seem to illuminate the creative or poetic or fiction-making function of mind while reflecting on practices of reading as vital to Freud’s own activities as both a psychoanalyst and a writer. A smaller selection of texts by Sandor Ferenczi, Jean Laplanche, and Jacques Lacan are addressed as commentary on fundamental Freudian concepts, and as interpretations of Freud’s texts that themselves thematize reading. A few literary texts are considered for their staging of problems related to Freud’s insights regarding sexuality and psychic life.
