Karen Horney’s Psychoanalytic Reading of Three Ethiopian Diasporic English Novels
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Date
2021-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study examines the experiences of characters owing to the Horney’s psychoanalytic conceptions in the selected Ethiopian English novels. This study gives focus to explore the experiential realities of the literary characters are described in the light of psychoanalysis in the selected diasporic novels. Thus, an intention has been given to analyze the psychological experiences of the characters based on neurotic development, intrapsychic conflicts and neurotic character structure. The study is intended to explore the characterization and conflict of the fictional characters thereby to psychoanalyze the personality of the characters the study is designed to employ a qualitative descriptions. From this, textual analysis and critical reading are employed to explicate the personality of the characters. The selection of the three diasporic novels is being conducted to get sufficient concepts of psychoanalysis for the analysis of the characters. Thus, the psychological experiences of eight characters are analyzed by the psychoanalytic conceptions. To achieve the specified goals, the theoretical framework has given focus to Horney’s psychoanalytic social theory. From this, three broad fundamental psychoanalytic conceptions are deployed. In view of this, to analyze the experiences of literary characters by the conceptions of contemporary psychoanalysis, three diaspora novels are selected. An attempt has been done to characterize the neurotic development, intrapsychic conflicts and neurotic solutions in the life of the literary characters owing to the dislocation they experienced in alien land. The results of this study explicated that the concepts of contemporary psychoanalysis are compatible to employ into the overwhelming experiences of literary characters in the three diaspora novels. Due to this, the characters are exposed into the subtleties of neurotic anxieties and conflicts which engender intrapsychic conflicts and neurotic solutions/ neurotic character structure from unpleasant past and present environmental and cultural situations. Consequently, the novels represent the incongruity of the real self who the characters really are and idealized self who the characters should want to be, rendered them to possess neurotic personality. Besides, the application of psychoanalysis is worthwhile to configure the characterization of the literary characters in the novels.
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Ethiopian English novels