ENGL 2201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Oedipus The King, Sigmund Freud, Pathos
16 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Sigmund freud coined the term to describe a child seeing (literally or as form of fantasy) sexual relations between its parents. Prof"s adaptation- motivated by desire to describe those moments when a writer lets us see through the narrative to the circumstances in which the work was conceived and written. Consul describes himself to yvonne in letter he will never send to her. Characters glimpsing their creation is like freud"s description of children seeing their parents having sex. Metaphorical tear in texture of novel"s language lets us glimpse the scene of novel"s own origins. Note the novel"s playful borrowings from ancient greek tragedy- yvonne and consul had pair of cats in mexico one named oedipuss (after ancient tragedy) and other pathos (ancient greek word for suffering) Hugh"s experiences at sea took place on ships named after greek tragedies- s. s. philoctetes and oedipus tyrannus. P. 87 dead man- consul has alcohol withdrawal hallucinations.
