Wen Hui Translation Series · In-Depth Exploration: Sexual Motivations in Literature

Author: Albert Modell [USA]
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Why can literary works from centuries ago still deeply move us? This is a major challenge for literary critics. Modell addresses this question in this book. Employing psychoanalytic perspectives and a rigorous academic approach, he analyzes numerous classic Western and American authors and their works, revealing that in literary creation, apart from various social, political, and cultural reasons, there exists a deeper underlying drive—the subconscious motivations of the author. Since this subconscious motivation is largely linked to the author's unconscious psyche, Modell refers to it as "erotic motivations." This is unrelated to the author's personal morality; it does not mean the author consciously indulges in eroticism, but rather that the author unconsciously reveals his inner secrets in the work, thereby subconsciously infecting the reader. This book is Modell's masterpiece and was praised by Freud himself, making it considered a classic work of Freudian literary criticism.