The "Psychosexual Haunting in Henry James and William Shakespeare" will be presented this weekend at Bloomsburg University it will take place on Saturday October 10 at Bloomsburg University's Alumni House from 10:30 am, to 1:00 pm. BU students will be reciting essays they wrote in conjunction with Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw", and William Shakespeare's "Coriolanus", "Richard III", and "A Lover's Complaint".
The event was organized by Dr. Stephen W. Whitworth, Associate Professor of English. He is also overseer of the Dead Letter Society, which is not affiliated with Bloomsburg University. The Society is a group of BU students that meet every two weeks to analyze difficult literature. The DLS is a subgroup of Ecole De Psychanalytique des Forums du Champ Lacanien, which is the International Psychoanalytic School.
Now you may be asking yourself, what exactly is a psychosexual haunting? The Psychosexual Haunting is a chance for BU students to showcase their writing abilities, through literary interpretation as well as from a psychological viewpoint. The conference analyzes the role that sexuality plays in the "making up" of human psychic identity. Dr. Stephen Whitworth says that "Sexuality plays a great role in the fact that all human beings are ‘split' between a conscious and an unconscious mind. This ‘splitting' causes us to feel ‘haunted' by our own ‘otherness' so we experience persecutory, ‘haunting' doubles, perversions, hysteria, schizophrenia, and melancholy. The papers in ‘Psychosexual Haunting' take a look at how this split in our identities shows us structurally and stylistically in the works of two of Anglo-American literature's greatest authors."
There was plenty of planning that went into this conference starting with organizing the event. Dr. Whitworth came up with the idea because he felt there were a lot of opportunities for creative writing students, but literature students didn't have a forum to write what they wanted to. He also said that it allowed students from both English and Psychology to interact. Dr Whitworth said, "Never in the history of this university have students in Psychology and English majors interacted with each other, and I welcome that". Dr. Whitworth also said, "This conference was necessary because it, for the first time at Bloomsburg University, is a conference that gives students the opportunity to analyze the form and psychological structure of literary texts without forcing a leftist political agenda on them as they read and experience literature."
The conference is made up of two panels, the Henry James Panel,and the Shakespeare Panel. These panels consist of students and respondents. The job of the respondent is to introduce each speaker and give direction to the Question and Answer segment. The respondent will ask one question to the presenter, and then open the Q&A to the audience. After, the planning the difficult task of selecting presenters started.
Dr. Whitworth said the papers were chosen on the basis of variety, theoretical discovery and apparatus, quality, and the style of the piece. Each reader will be reciting their own essays, which are 4-8 pages long, and do not exceed twenty minutes in presentation time. The papers were submitted by September 25, 2009, and those chosen for presentation were notified in an email message on Monday, September 28. Although a "good number" of submissions were given, only seven students were selected.
Panel one, Henry James and Psychoanalysis, consists of four students and one respondent. Paper 1: Sara Vanbuskirk, "Screwing Victorian Repression: Female Sexual Discovery in ‘The Turn of the Screw'." Paper 2: Matthew Setzer, "A Manifesto to an Age of Idiocy." Paper 3: Christopher Hitcho, "Ouroboros." Paper 4: Bryce Perles, "Struggle for Protagonism in ‘The Turn of the Screw'." The respondent of this panel is Justin Conant, who is a Bloomsburg University Alumnus.
Panel two, Shakespeare and Psychoanalysis, consists of three students and one respondent. Paper 1: Oliver Ghingold, "Shakespeare's Pervert." Paper 2: Ashley Ryman, "Mother must I? Lacan's pervert in Shakespeare's ‘Macbeth'." Paper 4: Jenny Braun, "Sexes both Enchanted: Feminine Jouissance and Melancholy in Shakespeare's ‘A lover's Complaint'." The respondent of this panel is Alexandra Martinez, President of Sigma Tau Delta.
The students who were chosen are all members of the Dead Letter Society and are all English Majors, although the conference was open to every Bloomsburg University student interested in this topic.
After each panel has presented their essays, the audience will have a chance to ask the readers' their own questions that were raised. Bagels, croissants, orange juice and coffee will be served at the conference. The conference would be relevant to your interests even if you are not an English or Psychology major, or attend Bloomsburg University. The event is a great opportunity to share ideas about this topic and explore in depth the role that sexuality plays in our identities.
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