You no longer have an excuse for not getting to know yourself better
With everything almost ready for our big day on the 24th of August at 6:00 p.m. CEST called The Shadowy Truth Behind Modern Horror And Gothic Trends, where we will talk about how entertainment is also a tool for self-help in our webinar, I still have some doubts.
This uncertainty is due to the still deep assumption that both Horror and Gothic are genres, for the most part, of little value. However, these genres, which by the way are not studied in depth in schools, institutes, and with certain difficulties in universities, say a lot about our unconscious processes, either as authors or as readers.
This very close relationship between Literature and Psychology, and of course with Psychoanalysis, has its origins, interestingly, with the birth of English Romanticism in the 18th century, and consequently with the birth of Gothic Literature.
This is precisely what I want to talk about in this post; something that is always very difficult for me to explain, since it is so deeply rooted in my psyche, and which is:
Why I think the analysis of literature is so important from a psychological point of view for our personal development, and why Gothic literature is our best ally for it
So in this post, I'm going to talk about:
- The origin of Psychoanalysis and its relationship with Gothic Literature.
- How to start to become aware and to get the most out of your passion for certain productions.
Dean Winchester in Supernatural playing one of his favourite tracks
Let's begin:
THE ORIGIN OF PSYCHOANALYSIS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOTHIC LITERATURE
In a time full of lights and shadows and a resounding technological, scientific, and intellectual advance, the most terrifying fears of the unknown, largely caused by an overflowing curiosity, also took place.
It is not surprising how, for the same reason, in its desire to predominate as the main thought of the time, and belittled, even with the value of any superstition cancelled out, there was also a highly accentuated resurgence of the paranormal, people with high capacities to connect with the afterlife and sèances.
In the end, both reason and spirituality were looking for the same answers:
Understanding our immortality, extending life, and knowing our next stop once we are not on this plane.
All these anxieties were reflected in the literature of the time, thanks to which we now know the fears of its people and how these fears were related to experiments, their historical moment, social concerns, and religious beliefs. A clear case that exemplifies this, and which is being talked about a lot these days due to its next celebration on the 30th of August, is Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley.
Thus, not including Horror or Gothic readings in today's curriculum means continuing to turn one's back and ignoring a fundamental source of information, which tells us not only about the time in which certain books were written but also, as a consequence, about who we are today.
These works became an inexhaustible source of knowledge for disciplines such as Psychology, which still use them in their studies today. In this sense, one of the most used Gothic works to exemplify schizophrenia and the duality of the human being is precisely The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, or The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, in which we also find the paranormal and superstitious factor very well elaborated.
According to the American critic and theorist Harold Bloom, Freud considered Literature a great source of information ideal to create a discipline that would help him cure his patients in a scientific way. For Freud, as well as for many of his disciples and other scholars of Literary Criticism, psychology and Literature explore human nature.
Likewise, for Carl G. Jung, once a disciple of Freud, any type of expression contains symbols that, once embodied in art, become real things that we can analyze and that are common to all individuals, regardless of their culture. It is what Jung called the “collective unconscious”.
But for a deeper analysis and to learn more about Gothic Literature and its connection to Jungian Psychology, don't miss my monthly magazine: You Are Gothic But You Don't Know It.
HOW TO BECOME AWARE OF AND BENEFIT FROM YOUR PASSION FOR CERTAIN PRODUCTIONS
One of the things you could do to learn all the benefits of the deep relationship between Psychology and Literature is to take a course.
To do this, you can look for some online options, especially if you are a teacher, and/or you work helping others and you want to complement your professional training.
If you already have some knowledge and want to deepen it, you could look for a university course, online or face-to-face, that has a subject in Psychology and Literature as part of its curriculum.
However, in all these cases you will have to continue investigating on your own since it is very difficult to find studies on Gothic Literature with Psychology, especially if we are talking about Jungian psychology.
I have found myself at this crossroads for many years, until gradually and driven a bit by circumstances, a bit by my personal interest and passion to share with others the benefits of reading Gothic literature and watching Horror films or series, I started designing my own learning model.
Part of this whole process, discoveries, collaborations, conferences, and much more is what has been translated into free material, products, and courses that today are available to everyone.
For example, if you don't know where to start, I invite you to the webinar that will take place on the 24th of August, in which we will have expert, professor, and Horror researcher: Tugce Kutlu, and where we will talk about:
Everything you need to know about Horror and Gothic in our times.
What the consumption of Terror tells us about our history.
What we can learn about our shadows and fears through Horror.
What Horror and Gothic looks like today compared to the last 50 years.
If you are interested in coming to our free seminar, just click on the following link and we will send you all the information.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In Horror entertainment and Gothic Literature, we have a great source of knowledge about human beings that continues to go unnoticed.
Since the origins of Psychoanalysis, we see a strong interest in the study of certain literary works to explain human behaviour and psyche.
Although the study of Gothic Literature and Horror is still part of small academic groups and is consumed by an audience that is largely unaware of its psychological value, this does not prevent us from creating our own learning.
Thanks for reading,
See you very soon!
Alice
Do you need help to gain clarity during your work, personal or professional transition process, or do you want to start a literary project but don't know how?
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The profit obtained from the subscriptions help me finance my research project Female representations of the mother in Gothic and Horror productions through Jungian archetypes by which I help people like you on your journey of self-recognition.
