Dead Poets Society was a 1989 film starring Robin Williams. It told the story of a group of students who were challenged by their English professor to seize the day, not conform to the norms of the all boys school they attended. This idea led to secret meetings in the woods to discuss poetry and literature, and encouraged them to go against the status quo. Students have their own Dead Poets Society right here at Bloomsburg University. Well, sort of.
Dr. Stephen W. Whitworth, Associate Professor of English, came up with an idea a little over a year ago. He offered a seminar entitled “Literature and Psychoanalysis.” Few thought the course would fill, but the registration had a surprising outcome, with 28 students signing up for the course. In this seminar, students read Freud’s classic papers from each of the three major phases of his successor, Jacques Lacan, which became the basis of the new study group’s discussions. After the semester had ended, students were interested in continuing the discussions they had in class, so Dr. Whitworth created a study group. The Dead Letter Society is the group of BU students who gather to discuss literature and psychoanalysis.
The name of the study group, The Dead Letter Society, or DLS for short, is so aptly named after a concept in Lacan’s “Instance of the Letter in the Unconscious,” one of the writings of the men they study. It is also meant to mirror the ever popular movie, “Dead Poets Society,” as stated in the beginning of the article. At the meetings the group discusses a text by Jacques Lacan covering the major stages of his career. Just for a little background information, Lacan was a psychoanalyst excommunicated from the International Psychoanalytic Association for his radical ideas about how the analytic theory should work. He believed in limiting psychoanalytic theory, rather than building it up.
Dr. Whitworth said he started this study group for one main reason, “I felt that in the English Department, students were being forced to turn their experiences of literary texts, which are always psychically complex, into flat, simple, politically correct, leftist political propaganda. The DLS doesn’t believe in doing that.” The DLS doesn’t believe in “mastering” the text they read with literary theory. They believe in slowing down, and listening to the unconscious of the literary texts. The practice of listening well is what the DLS strives for.
As of right now the members of the DLS are all English majors, but Dr. Whitworth said he is very open to the idea of counselors, faculty, and Psychology majors joining in on the discussion as well. Although the Dead Letter Society is not affiliated with Bloomsburg University, but more appropriately, with an International Lacanian psychoanalytic School, it is made up of 24 BU students, faculty members, alumnus, non-traditional students, and members of the community, and its growth continues today. Dr. Stephen Whitworth acts as a liaison with the Ecole de Psychoanalyse de Forums du Champ Lacanien, an international psychoanalytic Lacanian school, with which the DLS is affiliated with, and also serves as the teacher of the study groups.
Jennifer Braun, President of the study group, is in charge of the organizational aspect. She organized the “Psychosexual Haunting in Henry James and William Shakespeare Conference” held on Saturday October 10. Ashley Ryman, Editor in Chief of the DLS, is responsible for the Journal the DLS is publishing in the spring. Ashley explained the Journal as, “It’s basically a collection of papers that were submitted from the Psychosexual Conference and perhaps additional writings of the DLS members.” Dr Whitworth added that, “We wanted to give students a chance to be recognized for their writing, and let them experiment with psychoanalytic reading.” Dr. Whitworth also added that, “The title of the journal is ‘Nouages: The Dead Letter Society Journal.’ Nouages is the French word for ‘knots’, and we chose it as the name of our journal because Lacan thought that each human psyche existed in three psychic registers (the imaginary, the symbolic, and the real) that were linked in a famous ‘tie’ called the Borromean Knot. The ‘knot’ of the imaginary, the symbolic, and the real are what make up the human mind.” This journal will be published by Connor Publishing and will be sent to the psychoanalytic schools in Paris and Washington D.C., as well as to anyone who wants to order a copy.
If this information sparks an interest in the group, here are some ways you can get involved. Anyone who wishes to join the DLS study group can contact Jennifer Braun, although this group carries some responsibility. Jennifer said, “The DLS is selective in that you need to have an open mind. You can get a basic understanding of the text, but you really have to be committed to the reading.” Dr. Whitworth also added that, “The DLS is not a group of intellectual elitists, but it does expect its members to take thinking and reading difficult psychoanalytic and literary material seriously, and a willingness to accomplish that.”
Dr. Whitworth ended by saying, “I hope that this group has brought to Bloomsburg University a sense of how big, challenging, serious, and fascinating the world is outside of Bloomsburg.” After meeting with some members of the DLS several times, I can say my eyes have been opened to how big the world is, and that diving deep into psychoanalytic reading is a rewarding experience. I haven’t even been to a meeting, but I can only imagine how wide-eyed I would leave.
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