Freudian Dreams

Spring 2012. IDS 2302-101 / WGC 2302-101
LLR 221, MW 3:30-4:45

Dr. Derek Stanovsky | Freud Blog

Office: LLA 125 | Phone: 262-2441
Office Hours: www.appstate.edu/~stanovskydj
E-mail: stanovskydj@appstate.edu

Course Description:
Dreams can be among our most profound, moving, beautiful, creative and terrifying experiences and yet somehow we manage to be both the unwitting author and unwilling audience of our own dreams. Sigmund Freud’s classic work, The Interpretation of Dreams, provides us with an insightful and influential account of the origin and meaning of our dreams and a starting point for our inquiry into psychoanalytic interpretations of art and culture. We will explore and and apply these tools developed by Freud to art and aesthetics more broadly, drawing on readings from Nicky Glover’s Psychoanalytic Aesthetics as well as other essays by Freud on culture, art, and creativity. We will watch Slavoj Zizek’s The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema for a further application of Freudian theory to the aesthetics of film. Finally, you will be asked to produce a group video project interpreting a work of art, film, or dream using Freudian theory.

Texts:
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.

Course Requirements:
The most important requirements for this course are regular class attendance, preparation, and participation. You should do all the reading and come prepared to ask and answer questions each day. Keeping this in mind, the formal grading requirements are:

Class Participation and Online Writing 25%
Midterm Exam 25%
Freudian Interpretive Essay 25%
Final Group Video Project 25%

The class participation portion of your grade will be based on regular class attendance, your active and positive participation in class discussions, as well as on periodic homework and in-class individual and small group assignments. It will also be based on your active contributions to our online class blog.

You will be asked to keep a Dream Journal during the semester, either posted to the class blog or privately. You will record your dreams over the course of the semester and this source may provide a starting point for other assignments during the semester.

Two absences are allowed during the semester. Each additional absence will lower your class participation grade by one letter grade. More than six absences and/or failure to complete any of the graded assignments detailed below are grounds for failing the course.

There will be a midterm exam on The Interpretation of Dreams.

You will write an essay on a Freudian interpretation of a work of art, film, or dream.

There will be a final group video project to creatively present a Freudian interpretation of a work of art, film, or dream. There will be a final symposium during our regularly scheduled final exam period during which groups will present their final video projects to the class for discussion.

Students should be aware of the ASU policies on academic integrity, disability services, religious obervances, and student engagement.

Course Schedule:
*W 1/18 Introductions. Begin your Dream Journal. You may share your dreams, if you wish, on our class blog. Check your campus email for an invitation to join the blog.

M 1/23 The Interpretation of Dreams, "Preface to the First Edition," and Chapter I, "The Scientific Literature," pp. xxiii-xxiv, 35-73 discussing the history of dream interpretation from antiquity to Freud’s day.
W 1/25 Finish reading Chapter I on "The Scientific Literature," pp. 73-120.

M 1/30 Chapter II, "A Specimen Dream," pp. 121-145 discussing Freud’s famous Irma dream.
*W 2/1 TBA

M 2/6 Begin watching Hitchcock’s Spellbound in class, including the Salvador Dali dream sequence.
W 2/8 Hitchcock’s Spellbound concluded. André Breton, “First Surrealist Manifesto.”

M 2/13 Chapters III & IV, "Wish Fulfillment" and "Distortion," pp. 147-185.
W 2/15 Small group presentations on Chapter V, "Material and Sources of Dreams."

M 2/20 Chapter VI, "The Dream-Work," pp. 295-302, 322-326, 353-363 and 493-511.
W 2/22 Chapter VII, "The Dream-Processes," A-C, pp. 513-571.

M 2/27 Chapter VII, "The Dream-Processes," D-F, pp. 572-615.
W 2/29 Review and Discussion.

M 3/5 Midterm Exam.
*W 3/7 TBA

SPRING BREAK

M 3/19 Nicky Glover, Psychoanalytic Aesthetics, "Chapter 1: Freud's Theory of Art and Creativity," pp. 3-25. password: stanovsky2302
W 3/21 Freud, "Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming."

M 3/26 Freud, "Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood." password: stanovsky2302
W 3/28 Freud, "Dostoevsky and Parricide."

M 4/2 Video shown in class: Zizek, The Pervert's Guide to Cinema.
*W 4/4 TBA

EASTER BREAK
W 4/11 Freudian Interpretive Essay Due. Small group discussions of your papers.

M 4/16 Groups Assigned.
W 4/18 Group Work.

M 4/23 Group Work.
W 4/25 Group Work.

M 4/30 Group Work.
*W 5/2 Group Work.

Wednesday, May 9, 3:00 - 5:30 PM: Final symposium and presentation of final projects.