ENGL 300: Introduction to Theory of Literature
Lecture 18 - The Political Unconscious. In this lecture, Professor Paul Fry explores Fredric Jameson's seminal work, The Political Unconscious, as an outcropping of Marxist literary criticism and structural theory. Texts such as Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" and Shakespeare's seventy-third sonnet are examined in the context of Jameson's three horizons of underlying interpretive frameworks - the political, the social, and the historical, each carefully explained. The extent to which those frameworks permeate individual thought is addressed in a discussion of Jameson's concept of the "ideologeme." The theorist's work is juxtaposed with the writings of Bakhtin and Levi-Strauss. The lecture concludes by revisiting the children's story Tony the Tow Truck, upon which Jameson's theory of literature is mapped. (from oyc.yale.edu)
| Lecture 18 - The Political Unconscious |
| Time | Lecture Chapters |
| [00:00:00] | 1. Marxist Aesthetics and Frederic Jameson |
| [00:07:42] | 2. Romance at the Three Horizons |
| [00:22:18] | 3. The Political Unconscious at the Three Horizons |
| [00:38:08] | 4. Literary Analysis: Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" |
| [00:43:34] | 5. The Formal Emphasis at the Three Horizons |
| [00:47:16] | 6. Acknowledged Interpretive Dangers |
| [00:49:55] | 7. Application: Tony the Tow Truck |
| References |
| Lecture 18 - The Political Unconscious Instructor: Professor Paul H. Fry. Handout: A Bit More Marx and Marxism [PDF]. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov]. |
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