Psychology, literature and creation
[PSY1404]
[30h] 5 credits
This course is taught in the 1st semester.
Teacher(s): Philippe Lekeuche
Language: French
Level: First
Aims
Main themes
- Historically, where does the correlation between genius and madness come from? (cf. Pseudo-Aristotle, Problem XXX: "The man of genius and melancholy"). The idealist and romantic position. The modern artist : the Baudelairean paradigm.
- Synchronically: delimitation of aesthetics and psychology in the creator. How are they related? After having dealt with the concept of catharsis in the historical part, we go on to examine the deadlocks of the Freudian concept of "sublimation". To create is neither (1) to sublimate, nor (2) to express oneself.
- From a psychological perspective, we examine the processes at work as possible conditions for creative act. From an aesthetic perspective, we identify the main features of the concept of "transformation". We briefly consider the question: is art an intuitive form of knowledge of man and reality?
Content and teaching methods
The course is centred on certain basic questions:
- Historically, where does the correlation between genius and madness come from? (cf. Pseudo-Aristotle, Problem XXX: "The man of genius and melancholy"). The idealist and romantic position. The modern artist : the Baudelairean paradigm.
- Synchronically: delimitation of aesthetics and psychology in the creator. How are they related? After having dealt with the concept of catharsis in the historical part, we go on to examine the deadlocks of the Freudian concept of "sublimation". To create is neither (1) to sublimate, nor (2) to express oneself.
- From a psychological perspective, we examine the processes at work as possible conditions for creative act. From an aesthetic perspective, we identify the main features of the concept of "transformation". We briefly consider the question: is art an intuitive form of knowledge of man and reality?
Lectures on the above themes. Students are required to read various texts which deal with these topics.
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)
Assessment: written examination with open questions