Author Archives: PsyArt

By: Reuven Tsur Abstract: This paper further pursues my lifelong fascination with two intriguing issues involved in poetic language. First, language is logical and conceptual; but poetry uses it, sometimes, to convey nonlogical and nonconceptual experiences. Secondly, poets frequently solve this paradox by two additional paradoxes: expressing emotions by nonemotional descriptions of the immediate physicalContinue reading “Landscape Descriptions and Emotional Qualities: Cognitive and Neurological Correlates”

By: Hivren Demir-Atay Abstract: Departing from the intimate relationship between writing and reading in Kafka’s oeuvre, this article aims to illustrate the transference effect of literature staged by Kafka’s “The Judgment” (1912). As a text telling the story of a conflict between father and son, “The Judgment” evokes an Oedipal struggle. The article suggests thatContinue reading “Reading the Letter in the Pocket: Dissemination and Insemination in Kafka’s “The Judgment””

By: Hernán Vera Abstract: Risky Business (1983) and Home Alone (1990) are strikingly similar popular American films, family comedies. In both, the family conveniently vanishes and the son is left home alone, presented with the temptations of a newfound freedom which he promptly abuses, and then with seemingly overwhelming problems which he solves through ingenuityContinue reading “Home and the Superego: The Risky Business of Being Home Alone”

By: Rick Moody Abstract: The faux documentary Lake Mungo (2009) chronicles the paranormal events that befall an Australian family after the drowning death of their teenage daughter, Alice. Troubled by sounds, photos, and video footage which suggest that Alice is not ‘gone,’ they embark on a series of efforts to find her. When they stumbleContinue reading ““A Fun-Loving Girl with a Zest for Life:” Sex, Death, and Punishment in Lake Mungo”

By: Laura B. Vogel Abstract: The title As You Like It suggests satisfaction of the audience’s fancies. We propose that the play’s construction incorporates the strategy of dreams, in which a dream wish is disguised by dream work: here the “wish” is the consummation of Rosalind and Orlando’s mutual desire, and the dream work includesContinue reading “As You Like It: A Dream Play”

By: Jeffrey Weiner Abstract: The title of this article is based on Seneca’s description of the sacrifice of Polyxena in “The Trojan Women.” The fear, desire, and transcendence that the sacrificed maiden elicits in the audience put the feminine at the center of an experience of fear and wonder that characterizes Shakespearean romance. This paperContinue reading “The Polyxena Pattern”

By: Daniel Thomières Abstract: The essay tries to shed some light on Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. It starts with an analysis of a seemingly irrelevant detail: the difference between gold and diamonds. Gold must be seen as a symptom pointing to Willy Loman’s obsession for imitation, which can be accounted for by aContinue reading “All is not Gold: Fatherhood and Identity in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman”

By: Moshe Arkin Abstract: This article addresses an idiosyncrasy in Michelangelo’s art: the consistent depiction of angels without wings. This iconographical feature is not adequately explained by Art Historical methodolgy. A psychological explanation is offered based on the fact that, during the short period of Michelangelos infatuation with a young man, Tommaso Cavalieri, imagery ofContinue reading ““I Fly, Though Lacking Feathers, with Your Wings”: Why Are Michelangelo’s Angels Wingless?”

By: Frank Stringfellow  Abstract: Identifying Gilbert Osmond as the embodiment of evil is a commonplace observation in the voluminous commentary on Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady. However, critics of the novel have been remiss in providing a comprehensive examination of Osmond’s nefarious actions and the depraved personality behind them. This essay deciphers evidenceContinue reading “Henry James’s Portrait of Evil: A Study in Narcissistic Rage”

By: Laurie Johnson Abstract: This article explores Immanuel Kant’s contributions to psychology (specifically, the “Dreams of a Spirit-Seer” of 1766 and the “Classification of Mental Disorders” of 1764) in order to illuminate some connections between critical philosophy and psychology. Early in his career, and, surprisingly, in texts about hallucinations and mental illness, Kant’s expositions onContinue reading “Toward a Psychological History of Philosophy: Kant’s Dreams of a Spirit-Seer (Träume eines Geistersehers, erläutert durch Träume der Metaphysik, 1766)”