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Splitting in the Thirties: A psychoanalytic study of Roth, Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Slesinger
Abstract
This dissertation reopens the literature of the thirties by using a concept known in psychoanalytic discourse as "splitting" to analyze four representative works--Call It Sleep, For Whom The Bell Tolls, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Unpossessed. In object relations theory, splitting refers to the mental processes of projection and introjection that enable separation of comforting and discomforting thoughts. When subjected to analysis using this concept, new issues appear in each text. The dialectical role of splitting--the integrative and moral function of emotional exorcism--emerges as a central concern for Roth and Hemingway. The relationship of splitting to economic exploitation can be seen in Steinbeck's writing. The aesthetic implications of splitting becomes the topic of discussion when analyzing Slesinger's novel. I base my discussion on the assumption that the brutal ethnic, class, and national divisions of this decade suggest that these texts were conducting a correspondence about the mental position of the nation.
Subject Area
Modern literature|Social psychology|American literature|Literature
Recommended Citation
Schneer, Deborah Lee, "Splitting in the Thirties: A psychoanalytic study of Roth, Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Slesinger" (1990). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9100541.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9100541