Freudian Dreams

Spring 2013. IDS 2302-101 / WGC 2302-101
ED 317, MW 2:00-3:15

Dr. Derek Stanovsky | Freud Blog

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

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 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, culture, creativity, and writing as well as portrayals of psychoanalysis in popular culture.

Texts:
Peter Gay, ed. The Freud Reader. NY: Norton, 1995.

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 Essay 25%
Final Group 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.

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.

You will write an essay applying and illustrating some piece of Freudian theory as applied to a dream, film, or other pop culture artifact.

There will be a final group project to creatively present a Freudian interpretation of a dream, a film or other pop culture artifact, or a text by Freud himself. There will be a final symposium during our regularly scheduled final exam period during which groups will present their final video or other project 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:
M 1/14 Introductions. Check your campus email for an invitation to join our class blog. Begin your Dream Journal. If you wish, you may share your dreams on our blog.
W 1/16 "An Autobiographical Study," pp. 3-41.

MLK DAY
W 1/23 A Note Upon the "'Mystic Writing Pad."

M 1/28 "Screen Memories," pp. 117-126.
W 1/30 "Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming," pp. 436-443.

M 2/4 Video shown in class: Pabst, Secrets of a Soul (dream sequence).
W 2/6 Notes on The Interpretation of Dreams and discussion of film.

M 2/11 The Interpretation of Dreams, pp. 130-142.
W 2/13 "On Dreams," pp. 142-151.

M 2/18 "On Dreams," pp. 151-165.
W 2/20 "On Dreams," pp. 165-172.

M 2/25 Video shown in class: Hitchcock, Spellbound, including the Salvador Dali dream sequence.
W 2/27 Spellbound concluded. André Breton, “First Surrealist Manifesto.”

M 3/4 Review and Discussion.
W 3/6 Midterm Exam. Snow day.

SPRING BREAK

M 3/18 Midterm Exam.
W 3/20 Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, pp. 239-258.

M 3/25 Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, pp. 259-279.
W 3/27 Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, pp. 279-292. "Character and Anal Erotism" and "Family Romances," pp. 293-300.

EASTER BREAK
W 4/3 Video shown in class: Zizek, The Pervert's Guide to Cinema: Part I.

M 4/8 Civilization and Its Discontents, pp. 722-753.
W 4/10 Civilization and Its Discontents, pp. 753-772.

M 4/15 Video shown in class: A Dangerous Method.
W 4/17 A Dangerous Method concluded.

M 4/22 Freudian Essay Due. Groups Assigned.
W 4/24 Group Work.

M 4/29 Group Work.
W 5/1 Group Work.

Presentation of final projects during final exam period: Thursday, May 9 from 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm.