On 12 July, 5pm, Prof. Paulo de Medeiros will be presenting on Fernando
Pessoa and Psychoanalysis.
Venue: Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, room 273
Senate House, Malet Street
London WC1E 7HU
.
Fernando Pessoa, Portugal’s great modernist poet, whose posthumous Book of
Disquiet is now acclaimed as a masterpiece that crosses over into
postmodernism, presents an important case to analyze relations between
literature and pscyonalaysis. Although Pessoa was aware of Freud he
developed his own views on the subject, writing both essays as well as many
poems and other prose pieces where he questions notions of selfhood. The
most well-known aspect is his use of heteronyms — endowed with fictional
biographies — to write considerably different texts. However, ther are
many other facets still to be explored. Symptomatically, Pessoa’s
relationship with psychoanalysis has been left largely unexplored, with
only one recent book (José Martinho, Pessoa e a Psicanálise, 2001) starting
to explore it. In my presentation I will aim at making clear the different
ways in which Pessoa and his texts relate to Psychoanalysis, taking into
account the channels opened up by Martinho, but hopefully going beyond them.
On 1 November, Orit Beck will present on A brief history of Psychoanalysis
in Brasil
On 13 December Mike Richards will present on Problems of war and memory in
Spain, 1936 to the present.
For some background, please note:
Mike Richards is interested in the social and cultural history of Spain in
the twentieth century and, particularly, the civil war and memories of war.
His book A Time of Silence: Civil War and the Culture of Repression in
Franco’s Spain, 1936-45 was published by Cambridge University Press in 1998
and he has recently co-edited a volume of essays on the Spanish civil war
and cultural history, called The Splintering of Spain (CUP, 2005). His
recent research has included work on religion and identity, eugenics,
psychiatry and health, and social memory. He is currently working on a book
provisionally called 'Civil War and Collective Memory in Spain: Social
change and historical consciousness, 1936-2006'. Mike Richards is Associate
Head of the School of History, UWE, Bristol.
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