The Writing Cure: Psychoanalysis, Composition, and the Aims of Education

ISBN-13: 9780809322213 Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press Publication date: 04/02/1999 Edition description: 1st Edition Pages: 248 Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d) Lexile: 1610L (what's this?) Psychoanalysis and writing instruction have much to offer each other, asserts Mark Bracher. In this book, Bracher examines the intersection between these two fields and proposes pedagogical uses of psychoanalytic technique for writing instruction. Psychoanalysis reveals that the writing process is profoundly affected by factors that current theories have largely neglected—forces such as enjoyment, desire, fantasy, and anxiety, which, moreover, are often unconscious. Articulating an approach based on the work of Jacques Lacan, Bracher shows how a psychoanalytic perspective can offer useful insights into the nature of the writing process, the sources of writing problems, and the dynamics of writing instruction. He further demonstrates that writing instruction constitutes