DOCSLIB.ORG

Milano-Bicocca University Department of Psychology Doctoral

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Milano-Bicocca University Department of Psychology Doctoral Milano-Bicocca University Department of Psychology Doctoral Dissertation in Social, Cognitive, and Clinical Psychology XXVI Cycle Uncovering Narcissism: Developing Reliable Rorschach Indicators and Understanding the Construct in Depth Through Multimethod Investigation from Childhood to Adulthood in Clinical and Experimental Settings Doctoral Candidate: Emanuela S. V. Gritti Coordinator: Prof. Marco Perugini Supervisor: Prof. Margherita Lang Milan, Italy, 2014 Abstract The construct of narcissism is at the same time surrounded by wide interest in clinical and research settings and important controversies about its conceptual definition and phenomenological description. Theoretical issues involve diverging ideas about the essence of narcissism itself, arising from different branches of psychology and psychiatry and lacking a unanimously accepted definition. Whereas the most accepted diagnostic manuals emphasize a high self-esteem dimension in their description of narcissism, influential clinical theories and studies from personality psychology depict individuals with a narcissistic functioning as characterized not only by a grandiose sense of self but rather by a continuous and painful oscillation between high and low self-esteem states. In this view, grandiose behaviors could be interpreted as a defensive reaction towards inadequacy feelings. The scenario is complicated even further by the fact that empirical research on narcissism is characterized by specific methodological and assessment issues. Narcissism is in fact particularly sensitive to the diagnostic method used, with evident limitations connected to an assessment relying on self-report measures only. Therefore, there is a need for an implicit measure of narcissism that can complement the results of other methods. The present investigation represents the development of a set of 11 potential Rorschach variables for assessing narcissistic functioning and grandiosity along with related psychological constructs. Rorschach protocols from Italian and American clinical and nonclinical groups of different ages were scored for variables connected to narcissistic functioning, some of which we modified from previous literature: Omnipotence and Idealization; Reflection, Personal Knowledge Justification, Exhibitionism, Magic, and Elevated Mood States; and some of which we developed: Expanded Personal Reference, i Narcissistic Devaluation, Narcissistic Deflation, Narcissistic Denial. The presence of a grandiosity factor was then evaluated by principal components analysis and its validity tested by computing correlations with external criteria. Also in an attempt to throw light on the status of narcissism in developmental age, clinical preadolescent and adolescent groups were involved as well, with the possibility to identify any peculiarities that may be connected to the assessment of these variables at specific ages. Along with clinical studies, in the present investigation an experimental paradigm was used in order to systematically study the relationships between the narcissistic variables and nonclinical individuals’ reactions to manipulations of self-esteem. Overall, findings support the utility of a multimethod assessment for narcissism, focused not only on how individuals understand and describe themselves but also on how they perceive the world and interact with it. Results about narcissistic functioning in preadolescents and adolescents contribute to fill a gap in the field considering the general lack of consensus about the possibility to conceptualize narcissism in children as different from a normal feature of development. ii Table of contents Abstract ………..……………………………………………………………………….. i Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………………… iii Chapter I: Literature Review…………………………………………………………. 1 Chapter II: Assessing Narcissism Using Rorschach-Based Imagery and Behavior 41 Validated by Clinician-Reports: Studies with clinical and nonclinical adults……... Study 1: Normative adults………………………………………………………... 50 Sample ………………………………...................................................... 51 Materials ………………………………………………………………. 52 Statistical Procedure ……..……………………………………………. 53 Results 55 Study 2: Clinical Adults ………………………………………………………….. 57 Participants: Patients and Clinicians ………………………………... 58 Materials ……………………………………………………………… 60 Statistical Procedure ……..……………………………………………. 63 Results ..………………………………………………………………… 66 Discussions for Study 1 and Study 2……..………………………….... 72 Appendix………………………………………………………………... 76 Chapter III: Narcissistic Functioning in Children and Adolescents: Multi- 83 method clinical studies with the Rorschach Inkblot Method………………………. Outline of the Developmental Studies ……..………………………………... 89 Study 1: Clinical Preadolescents ..…………………………………………… 90 iii Participants …………………………………………………………….. 90 Materials ……………………………………………………………….. 90 Statistical Procedure …………………………………………………... 97 Expected Findings ……………………………………………………... 101 Results ………………………………………………………………….. 101 Study 2: Clinical Adolescents ………………………………........................... 106 Participants …………………………………………………………….. 106 Materials ……………………………………………………………….. 107 Statistical Procedure …………………………………………………... 108 Expected Findings ……………………………………………………... 110 Results ………………………………………………………………….. 111 Discussions for Study 1 and Study 2 ………………………………………… 116 Chapter IV: Narcissistic Self-Esteem, Anger and Defensive Patterns: An 123 experimental design with the Rorschach Inkblot Method …………………………. Outline …………………………………………………………………. 128 Participants and Recruitment Process ……………………………….. 128 Materials ……………………………………………………………….. 129 Procedure ………………………………………………………………. 133 Aims and Hypotheses ………………………………………………….. 138 Statistical Analyses: Main Steps ……………………………………… 139 Results Section I: Factor Extraction on the GNVs ………………….. 141 Results Section II: Narcissism in Relation to Self-Esteem 147 Manipulation …………………………………………………………... iv Discussions ……………………………………………………………... 156 Chapter V: Summary, General Discussions and Final Considerations …………... 163 Acknowledgments …………………………………………………………………….. 173 References ………………………..…………………………………………………… 175 v [“è inutile” soggiunse, “non abbiamo più la saggezza degli antichi, è finita l’epoca dei giganti!”. “Siamo nani,” ammise Guglielmo, “ma nani che stanno sulle spalle di quei giganti, e nella nostra pochezza riusciamo talora a vedere più lontano di loro sull’orizzonte.” Dialogo fra Abbone da Fossanova e Guglielmo da Baskerville] U. Eco, 1980 vi Chapter I Literature Review Defining, studying and unanimously describing the concept of narcissism might be one of the hardest but at the same time valuable ventures for contemporary research in psychology and psychiatry. Ironically enough, as foreseen by the myth of Narcissus, the concept of narcissism has captured vivid interest and has been “in the spotlight” of clinical literature and research for over a century, being one of the key (and controversial) concepts of psychoanalysis itself. However, as will be discussed further, the history of the construct dates back even before the advent of psychoanalytic ideas as we know them today, and has been everything but linear. Epistemological challenges and debates have in fact traditionally surrounded the construct of narcissism, which has been discussed in very heterogeneous scientific scenarios that go from psychodynamic approaches (e.g. Kernberg, 1978, 1984; Kohut, 1971, 1977; Ronningstam, 2009, 2011, 2012), to more recent social-psychological experimental studies (Rhodewalt & Morf, 1998; Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001), to trait models (Miller & Campbell, 2010; Miller et al., 2011; Samuel & Widiger, 2008) and to contemporary personality researchers and theorists (Baumeister, Bushman, & Campbell, 2000; Campbell, 1999; Dickinson & Pincus, 2003; Emmons, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1989; John & Robins, 1994; Raskin & Hall, 1979; Raskin & Novacek, 1989). In the multifaceted array of conceptualizations on narcissism, the term has been used with rather different meanings, at times conceived as a personality trait and in other contexts presented as a psychopathological personality configuration. Yet the construct has been employed by authors from outside psychology and psychiatry literature such as, just to cite a few, the sociologist Theodore Adorno (1968), the 1 cultural historian Christopher Lasch (1979) and the socio-economic journalist Tom Wolfe (1976). Contrarily to what could be expected considering such an influence over the lay public and modern society, together with the longstanding history in psychology that characterized narcissism through the years, the construct is not associated to a commensurate solid scientific status. In fact, narcissism has often been studied from a theoretical rather than empirical point of view, and its clinical counterpart, Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is one of the less empirically studied personality disorders (Paris, 2003; Stinson, Dawson, Goldstein et al., 2008; Miller & Campbell, 2010). In fact, except for more recent studies that focused on the impact of NPD traits on the quality of life and functional impairment in clinical and community samples (Cramer, Torgersen, & Kringlen, 2006; Miller, Campbell, & Pilkonis, 2007), systematic works have generally involved more observable and externalizing PDs such as Antisocial and Borderline. Along with a relative scarcity of systematic studies about NPD in comparison to other personality disorders, discordant prevalence rates have been reported, going from the more recent 6% obtained in the general population
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sonic, Infrasonic, and Ultrasonic Frequencies
    SONIC, INFRASONIC, AND ULTRASONIC FREQUENCIES: The Utilisation of Waveforms as Weapons, Apparatus for Psychological Manipulation, and as Instruments of Physiological Influence by Industrial, Entertainment, and Military Organisations. TOBY HEYS A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Liverpool John Moores University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2011 1 ABSTRACT This study is a trans-disciplinary and trans-historical investigation into civilian and battlefield contexts in which speaker systems have been utilised by the military-industrial and military-entertainment complexes to apply pressure to mass social groupings and the individuated body. Drawing on authors such as historian/sociologist Michel Foucault, economist Jacques Attali, philosopher Michel Serres, political geographer/urban planner Edward Soja, musician/sonic theorist Steve Goodman, and cultural theorist/urbanist Paul Virilio, this study engages a wide range of texts to orchestrate its arguments. Conducting new strains of viral theory that resonate with architectural, neurological, and political significance, this research provides new and original analysis about the composition of waveformed geography. Ultimately, this study listens to the ways in which the past and current utilisation of sonic, infrasonic, and ultrasonic frequencies as weapons, apparatus for psychological manipulation, and instruments of physiological influence, by industrial, civilian, entertainment, and military organisations, predict future techniques of socio­ spatialised organisation. In chapter one it is argued that since the inception of wired radio speaker systems into U.S. industrial factories in 1922, the development of sonic strategies based primarily on the scoring of architectonic spatiality, cycles of repetition, and the enveloping dynamics of surround sound can be traced to the sonic torture occurring in Guantanamo Bay during the first decade of the twenty-first century.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading the Surface: the Danish Gothic of B.S. Ingemann, H.C
    Reading the Surface: The Danish Gothic of B.S. Ingemann, H.C. Andersen, Karen Blixen and Beyond Kirstine Marie Kastbjerg A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2013 Reading Committee: Marianne Stecher. Chair Jan Sjaavik Marshall Brown Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Scandinavian Studies ©Copyright 2013 Kirstine Marie Kastbjerg Parts of chapter 7 are reprinted by permission of the publishers from “The Aesthetics of Surface: the Danish Gothic 1820-2000,” in Gothic Topographies ed. P.M. Mehtonen and Matti Savolainen (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), pp. 153–167. Copyright © 2013 University of Washington Abstract Reading the Surface: The Danish Gothic of B.S. Ingemann, H.C. Andersen, Karen Blixen and Beyond Kirstine Marie Kastbjerg Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor in Danish Studies Marianne Stecher Department of Scandinavian Studies Despite growing ubiquitous in both the popular and academic mind in recent years, the Gothic has, perhaps not surprisingly, yet to be examined within the notoriously realism-prone literary canon of Denmark. This dissertation fills that void by demonstrating an ongoing negotiation of Gothic conventions in select works by canonical Danish writers such as B.S. Ingemann, Hans Christian Andersen, and Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), as well as contemporary writers such as Peter Høeg and Leonora Christina Skov. This examination does not only broaden our understanding of these culturally significant writers and the discourses they write within and against, it also adds to our understanding of the Gothic – an infamously malleable and indefinable literary mode – by redirecting attention to a central feature of the Gothic that has not received much critical attention: the emphasis on excess, spectacle, clichéd conventions, histrionic performances, its hyperbolic rhetorical style, and hyper-visual theatricality.
    [Show full text]
  • A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Decoding the Language of a Psychopath BY
    A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Decoding the Language of a Psychopath BY KERRI ANDERSON A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology California Baptist University School of Behavioral Sciences 2017 ii SCHOOL OF BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES The thesis of Kerri Anderson, approved by her Committee, has been accepted and approved by the Faculty of the School of Behavioral Sciences, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology. Thesis Committee: _____________________________ [Name, Title] _____________________________ [Name, Title] _____________________________ [Name, Title] Committee Chairperson [Date] iii DEDICATION It is so common to be traditional and dedicate a work of science to one’s parents, spouses, children, friends, and mentors. As if one felt the need to give back for what has been taken. But a contribution to science, and I have desperately tried here to make a contribution to science, always includes a vast amount of taking from previous researchers, professors, and scholars. Then adding a little bit according to one’s ability and then giving back not to one’s scholars and colleagues but to the whole community and to other people as well, who might find the work interesting and resourceful, and bring it on. It is for those individuals that this work has been written and to them that it is dedicated so, here is my Forensic Psychology Master’s Thesis to whoever finds it interesting and a viable contribution to uncovering the root causes of psychopathy. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Boasting in Weakness
    1 Boasting in Weakness Date: 29 November 2020, 1st Sunday in Advent Location: St George’s Series: God’s Power in Our Weakness Texts: 2 Corinthians 11:16-33; Jeremiah 9:23-24; Mark 10:35-45 10 years or so ago I went to hear a rock star preacher visiting from the US. Mark Driscoll was the flavour of the month. He had planted a church in Seattle that had grown into the thousands within a decade. He had started a church planting network. His style particularly appealed to young men. He told them to stop playing video games, grow up, get a job, move out of home and get married. He inspired hordes of young men to try their hand at church planting. I remember listening to one of his sermons with Claire and she asked me - why is he shouting at us? She, like other women, did not find his aggressive, hyper masculine approach appealing. Sadly, a few years later Driscoll spectacularly fell from grace. He was sacked from his church for bullying. One of the questions Driscoll’s story raises is What does Christian leadership look ​ like? Being a great preacher and a charismatic leader clearly is not the whole or even the ​ key. There has to be something deeper. One of the things that drives bullying is when a person gets their sense of self worth from being in control. There is an underlying pride that means you have to be at the centre, in charge, in the spotlight. And when that is threatened, you lash out in anger.
    [Show full text]
  • Hatescape: an In-Depth Analysis of Extremism and Hate Speech On
    Hatescape: An In-Depth Analysis of Extremism and Hate Speech on TikTok Ciarán O’Connor About this paper About the Author This report aims to provide an in-depth analysis on Ciarán O’Connor is an analyst and investigator on ISD’s the state of extremism and hate on TikTok. It is the Digital Analysis Unit. He focuses on the intersection of culmination of three months of research on a sample extremism and technology and with specific expertise of 1,030 videos posted on TikTok, equivalent to just on the far-right and disinformation environment online over eight hours of content, that were used to promote and use of open-source research methodologies. hatred and glorify extremism and terrorism on the Since the start of 2021, Ciarán has led ISD’s COVID-19 platform. Vaccine Misinformation Monitor, a series of short-form reports examining the nature and scale of vaccine- ISD set out to examine the state of hate and extremism related misinformation in Ireland, Canada, MENA and on TikTok in two ways. The first objective involved the Netherlands. Before joining ISD, Ciarán worked analysing how individuals or groups promote hateful with Storyful news agency. He has an MSc in Political ideologies and target people on the platform based Communication Science from the University of on numerous protected attributes such as ethnicity, Amsterdam and is currently learning Dutch. religion, gender or others. Second, using the same framework, ISD investigated how features on TikTok Acknowledgements like profiles, hashtags, share functions, video effects This research was made possible thanks to the support, and music are used to spread hate.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Demagogues
    THE NEW DEMAGOGUES Edited by Joshua M. Roose First published 2021 ISBN: 978-1-138-36469-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-36470-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-43119-7 (ebk) Chapter 4 MALE SUPREMACISM Joshua M. Roose (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) This OA chapter is funded by Deakin University. 4 MALE SUPREMACISM Introduction The third thesis explored in this book requires an exploration of how displays of populist hyper-masculinity, irrespective of the local context, are indicative of deep- seated social injury and wounded masculine pride. In framing masculinity, it argues that alienation of and anxiety amongst working and, increasingly, middle-class men are key contributors to new populist movements, resulting in misogyny and resentment toward women amongst a small, though potentially increasing, segment of the community. This is reflected in the political discourse of the new demago- gues. The chapter commences by outlining contemporary scholarly approaches to the intersection of masculinity and the new populism, followed by an exploration of the role played by anxiety and alienation in shaping the attraction to new populist movements. I then explore contemporary developments, focusing in par- ticular upon the emergence of targeted political violence directed towards women on the basis of gender. I develop the concept of ideological masculinity, which may go some way to explaining the phenomenon of male supremacism, and explore important clues as to its prevalence in the wider community. Masculinity and the new populism The concept of masculinity, understood here as ‘the social construction of what it is to be a man’ (Kimmel & Bridges 2011), invites us to view actors who have been cast in the public imagination as inherently malevolent and fanatical as both human and subject to social processes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution and Psychology of Self-Deception
    BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (2011) 34,1–56 doi:10.1017/S0140525X10001354 The evolution and psychology of self-deception William von Hippel School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia [email protected] http://www.psy.uq.edu.au/directory/index.html?id¼1159 Robert Trivers Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 [email protected] http://anthro.rutgers.edu/ index.php?option¼com_content&task¼view&id¼102&Itemid¼136 Abstract: In this article we argue that self-deception evolved to facilitate interpersonal deception by allowing people to avoid the cues to conscious deception that might reveal deceptive intent. Self-deception has two additional advantages: It eliminates the costly cognitive load that is typically associated with deceiving, and it can minimize retribution if the deception is discovered. Beyond its role in specific acts of deception, self-deceptive self-enhancement also allows people to display more confidence than is warranted, which has a host of social advantages. The question then arises of how the self can be both deceiver and deceived. We propose that this is achieved through dissociations of mental processes, including conscious versus unconscious memories, conscious versus unconscious attitudes, and automatic versus controlled processes. Given the variety of methods for deceiving others, it should come as no surprise that self-deception manifests itself in a number of different psychological processes, and we discuss various types of self-deception. We then discuss the interpersonal versus intrapersonal nature of self-deception before considering the levels of consciousness at which the self can be deceived.
    [Show full text]
  • Not All Bad: Exploring the Link Between Psychopathy and Success
    Bard College Bard Digital Commons Senior Projects Spring 2018 Bard Undergraduate Senior Projects Spring 2018 Not All Bad: Exploring The Link Between Psychopathy and Success Lily Constance Harker Bard College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2018 Part of the Personality and Social Contexts Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Harker, Lily Constance, "Not All Bad: Exploring The Link Between Psychopathy and Success" (2018). Senior Projects Spring 2018. 232. https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2018/232 This Open Access work is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been provided to you by Bard College's Stevenson Library with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this work in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Not All Bad: Exploring The Link Between Psychopathy and Success Senior Project Submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College by Lily Constance Harker Annandale-on-Hudson, New York May 2018 Acknowledgements Thank you Macy and everyone for the laughs, the dinners, and all of the love. I love you all!!! Thank you Mom and Dad for supporting me and trusting me always. You guys are true friends and I love you.
    [Show full text]
  • Assessing Identity in Children and Adolescents NARCISSISTIC
    Assessing Identity in Children and Adolescents Paulina F. Kernberg, MD Assessing Identity in Children and Adolescents Incidence Adults Estimates range as high as 10 to 11% of the general population (Weissman 1993) and 50% of those receiving psychotherapeutic treatment (Merikangas and Weissman 1986) -- suffer from impairments attributable to one or more personality disorders Assessing Identity in Children and Adolescents Incidence Youth Longitudinally evaluated 733 youngsters from randomly selected families Age range from 9 - 19 years 31.2% met criteria for a moderate personality disorder 17.2% were at a severe level D. Bernstein et all 1993 Assessing Identity in Children and Adolescents ASSESSING DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERISTICS: DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY Assessing Identity in Children and Adolescents Borderline Personality Disorder • Argues a lot (3) • Impulsive or acts without • Complains of loneliness thinking (41) (12) • Physically attacks other • Cruelty, bullying, or people (57) meanness to others (16) • Screams a lot (68) • Deliberately harms self or • Sudden changes in mood attempts suicide (18) or feelings (87) • Destroys his or her own • Talks about killing self (91) things • Temper tantrums or hot • Feels or complains that temper (95) no one loves him or her Assessing Identity in Children and Adolescents NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER • Bragging and boasting • Feels he or she has to be (7) perfect (32) • Disobedient at home • Showing off or clowning (22) (74) • Disobedient at school (23) Assessing Identity in Children and Adolescents
    [Show full text]
  • Psychopathy and Risk of Violence: Assessment and Management
    Will they do it again? Assessing and Managing Risk Chapter 7 Psychopathy and Risk of Violence: Assessment and Management Nick J Wilson The concept of psychopathy is poorly understood and characterised by stereotypes, such as Dr Hannibal Lector from the fi lm Silence of the Lambs. This distorted image affects both lay people, as well as many health professionals. Moreover, having a belief in such stereotypes means you will miss 90% of psychopathic individuals who do not tend to be highly intelligent, urbane, educated, and only of European ethnicity. Criminal psychopaths display diverse chronic antisocial behaviour as their characteristic adaptation to society, with crimes marked by violence and a lack or remorse or empathy, but not typically cannibalism! This chapter is intended to provide a brief background to the reader of the operalisation of the concept, the utility of psychopathy in risk assessment, as well as discussing the controversy its clinical use has produced. Empirical support for the appropriate use of measures of psychopathy with a variety of forensic and offender populations will be presented, using where possible New Zealand research. Finally, the implications of psychopathy for the management and treatment of antisocial behaviour is discussed with a behavioural focus on changing the adaptation of the individual rather than core psychopathic personality traits. What is Psychopathy? Psychopathic individuals are not a product of the 20th Century motion picture industry, with historical sources as far back as Aristotle, across cultures, reporting people who have committed acts of extreme antisocial behaviour, seemingly without remorse or guilt (Hare, 1970). However, while society prior to the 19th Century labelled such behaviour as “evil”, a label still used to this day, there was no clinical tradition of research into the psychological characteristics that might be present in these individuals.
    [Show full text]
  • Identity, Identification and Narcissistic Phantasy in the Novels of Kazuo Ishiguro
    IDENTITY, IDENTIFICATION AND NARCISSISTIC PHANTASY IN THE NOVELS OF KAZUO ISHIGURO DIANE A. WEBSTER THOMAS A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of East London in collaboration with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. July, 2012 Abstract Identity, Identification and Narcissistic Phantasy in the Novels of Kazuo Ishiguro This thesis explores Ishiguro’s novels in the light of his preoccupation with emotional upheaval: the psychological devastations of trauma, persisting in memory from childhood into middle and old age. He demonstrates how the first person narrators maintain human dignity and self-esteem unknowingly, through specific, psychic defence mechanisms and the related behaviours, typical of narcissism. Ishiguro’s vision has affinities with the post-Kleinian Object-Relations psychoanalytic literature on borderline states of mind and narcissism. I propose a hybrid, critical framework which takes account of this, along with the key aspects of the traditional humanist novel, held in tension with certain deconstructive tactics from postmodernist writing. Post-Kleinian theory and practice sit within the humanist approach in any case, with both the ethical and the reality-seeking imperatives, paramount. Ishiguro presents humanism in the ‘deficit’ model and this framework helps to bring it into view. The argument is supported by close readings of the six novels in which the trauma concerns different forms of fragmentation from wars, socio-historic upheaval, geographical dislocation, and emotional disconnection. All involve psychic fragmentation of the ego in the central character, through splitting and projection. Ishiguro, himself, perceives some sorts of object-relations, psychic mechanisms, operating at the unconscious level, which he calls ‘appropriation’ and which the post- Kleinians have theorised.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparative Study of the Literary Output of Nikolai Gogol
    The Aesthetics of Effacement: A Comparative Study of the Literary Output of Nikolai Gogol and Oscar Wilde PhD Thesis 2019 Brigit Katharine McCone Student no. 09129731 1 I declare that this thesis has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other university and it is entirely my own work. I agree to deposit this thesis in the University’s open access institutional repository or allow the Library to do so on my behalf, subject to Irish Copyright Legislation and Trinity College Library conditions of use and acknowledgement. Signed ___________________________________________________ 2 SUMMARY This thesis marks the first comprehensive comparative study of the literary output of Nikolai Gogol and Oscar Wilde, from an intersectional perspective blending genre theory, queer theory, postcolonial theory and Jungian psychoanalysis, to examine the authors as sexually and ethnically closeted while estimating the impact of this closeting on their fiction. The thesis concludes that Nikolai Gogol and Oscar Wilde have significant parallels in their conception of the artistic process, explicable by a shared exposure anxiety, significant stylistic parallels, explicable by a shared imperative to generate interpretative suspense and facilitate plausibly deniable self-expression, and significant thematic parallels in their treatment of sexuality, ethnicity and identity, explicable by a shared experience of sexual and ethnic closeting. By establishing that all major sexual themes in the fiction of Nikolai Gogol have direct parallels in the fiction of Oscar Wilde, this thesis contributes to the contextualization of Gogol as a closeted writer, while proposing new aesthetic frameworks for the evaluation of Oscar Wilde. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am grateful for the advice and encouragement of my supervisor, Dr Sarah Smyth, of the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies of Trinity College Dublin, and my co-supervisor, Dr Paul Delaney of the School of English, and my two examiners Jarlath Killeen and Claire Whitehead.
    [Show full text]