Suicide, Melancholia, and Manic Defense in Byron’s Manfred

IF 0.2 2区文学 0 LITERATURE

NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE Pub Date : 2021-06-01 DOI:10.1525/ncl.2021.76.1.1

R. Lansdown

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Abstract

Richard Lansdown, “Suicide, Melancholia, and Manic Defense in Byron's Manfred” (pp. 1–32) This essay presents a literary-critical account of Lord Byron’s verse drama Manfred (1817) from the perspective of Freudian and Object Relations psychological theories, in particular as regards the distinction between melancholia and mourning and the presence of part-objects within the psyche. It argues that whereas it is important to preserve a distinction between the poet and his works, such a distinction can never be total: like Childe Harold, Manfred is clearly in part a personal projection, given Byron’s state of mind at the time of composition. To provide context for these discussions the essay surveys both Byron’s personal views concerning suicide and the history of self-slaughter in Western culture, with Romanticism as a particular focus. The poet’s attitudes were many and various, depending on which cases he had in mind. Furthermore, the Romantic tradition initiated by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) and continued by Byron’s numerous treatments of suicide mark a complication of the attitudes we find voiced by Enlightenment philosophers and, indeed, by Sigmund Freud himself.

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拜伦《曼弗雷德》中的自杀、忧郁症与狂躁防御

Richard Lansdown，“拜伦的《曼弗雷德》中的自杀、忧郁症和疯狂防御”（第1-32页）本文从弗洛伊德和客体关系心理学理论的角度，特别是忧郁症和哀悼之间的区别以及部分客体在心理中的存在，对拜伦勋爵的诗歌戏剧《曼弗雷德（1817）》进行了文学批评。它认为，尽管在诗人和他的作品之间保持区别很重要，但这种区别永远不可能是完全的：就像Childe Harold一样，考虑到拜伦在创作时的精神状态，曼弗雷德显然在一定程度上是个人的投射。为了为这些讨论提供背景，本文调查了拜伦关于自杀的个人观点和西方文化中自我屠杀的历史，其中浪漫主义是一个特别关注的焦点。这位诗人的态度多种多样，这取决于他所想到的情况。此外，约翰·沃尔夫冈·冯·歌德（Johann Wolfgang von Goethe）的《年轻维特的悲伤》（the Sorrows of Young Werther，1774）开创了浪漫主义传统，拜伦（Byron）对自杀的多次治疗延续了这一传统，这标志着启蒙运动哲学家，甚至西格蒙德·弗洛伊德（Sigmund Freud）本人所表达的态度的复杂性。

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来源期刊

NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE LITERATURE-

CiteScore

0.30

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0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： From Ozymandias to Huckleberry Finn, Nineteenth-Century Literature unites a broad-based group of transatlantic authors and poets, literary characters, and discourses - all discussed with a keen understanding of nineteenth -century literary history and theory. The major journal for publication of new research in its field, Nineteenth-Century Literature features articles that span across disciplines and explore themes in gender, history, military studies, psychology, cultural studies, and urbanism. The journal also reviews annually over 70 volumes of scholarship, criticism, comparative studies, and new editions of nineteenth-century English and American literature.