Meets the following requirements: HS   

This course is an introduction to the unconscious.  It begins with the problem of knowing something which by definition is unknown.  It then proceeds to examine two classic approaches to the unconscious:  dreams and love.  Students are expected to keep dream notebooks and to recognize their own unconscious life in the light of readings.  Readings start with the unconscious in its classical formulation according to Freud and Jung.  We read The Interpretation of Dreams and Two Essays in Analytical Psychology.  We consider these themes in fiction using Henry James' The Beast in the Jungle.  We then move to more contemporary writers, particularly James Hillman's The Dream and the Underworld, Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality, and finally consider some of the negative implications of the material in Elaine Scarry's The Body in Pain.  The writing part of this course is done in pairs, with groups of two students cross-examining each other's dream notebooks and self-analysis.

Level:  Intermediate.  Prerequisite:  A course in literature or psychology.  Offered every other year.
Class limit: 20.  *HS*