A survey of key concepts of “Madness” in the 20th century, this course examines inventions and conceptualizations of the “insane” subject in psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, gender theory, and literature. Particular attanetion will be paid to the pathological as a specific way of speaking and writing; what is the reative potential of the irrational subject? And what kind of language do literary texts share with more abstract reflections on the abnormal?
Readings include E.T.A. Hoffmann, Hofmansthal, Schnitzler, Duras, Bernhard, Jelinek, Freud, Foucault, Lacan Cixous, Kristeva, and Deleuze.
