“Terrores fantasmales en el jardín de infancia”: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu y el trauma infantil

Autores/as

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24162/EI2024-12403

Palabras clave:

Estrategias narrativas, Categorías freudianas, Trauma infantil, Liminalidad, Inconclusión

Resumen

Este ensayo sostiene que las oscilaciones emocionales entre subordinación y emancipación, típicas de la obra de Le Fanu, conducen hacia un sentido implícito de inconclusión y evasión narrativa en sus relatos. Su obra se nutre de estructuras duales y los binarios latentes en los pensamientos oníricos, así como del contenido manifiesto de los sueños – lo familiar y lo extraño, que Sigmund Freud emplea en sus exploraciones del inconsciente –, que explicarían las fuerzas motivacionales de sus creaciones literarias. El autor utiliza el desplazamiento y la condensación – las principales funciones que Freud atribuye a los sueños – para crear un mundo exterior que se revela como un mundo interior en desequilibrio. El presente ensayo analiza el significado de dos símbolos centrales en Le Fanu: el doble y la habitación cerrada. Basándonos en reflexiones psicoanalíticas sobre la influencia del trauma infantil en la creatividad de los escritores, parecería que Le Fanu, mediante la desfamiliarización, estaría insistentemente incorporando sus traumas y anhelos más íntimos en su ficción. A través de una estética gótica, Le Fanu produjo ficción psicológica avant la lettre. Este autor no solo se adelantó a George Orwell en su descripción de los procesos de manipulación mental producidos socialmente, sino que también produjo un imaginario junguiano en torno al inconsciente colectivo, antes que H.P. Lovecraft lo hiciera. Le Fanu también fue precursor de la introspección literaria presente en diversas estrategias narrativas modernistas, desarrolladas poco después de su fallecimiento, por autores como James Joyce y Virginia Woolf.

Biografía del autor/a

Jochen Achilles

Jochen Achilles is Emeritus Professor of American Studies at the University of Würzburg, Germany, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Mainz, Germany. His authored book publications include studies on the development of Sean O’Casey’s plays and on the interface between the gothic tradition and psychological fiction, focusing on Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. He co-edited volumes on Irish drama, global challenges and regional responses in modern drama, representations of evil in fiction and film, and on liminality and the short story. His research interests and numerous articles focus on cultural identities, Irish and American short fiction, Irish and African American drama.

Citas

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Publicado

17-03-2024

Cómo citar

Achilles, J. (2024). “Terrores fantasmales en el jardín de infancia”: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu y el trauma infantil. Estudios Irlandeses, 19(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.24162/EI2024-12403