St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Research Centres and Institutes
  • Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA)
  • Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA) Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Research Centres and Institutes
  • Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA)
  • Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA) Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Research Centres and Institutes
  • Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA)
  • Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA) Theses
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

C. S. Lewis and the neurotic imagination : a Horneyan analysis

Date
06/2020
Author
Vaughan, Simon
Supervisor
Wolfe, Judith (Judith E.)
Keywords
C. S. Lewis
Karen Horney
Erich Fromm
Ludwig Feuerbach
Theology
Psychology
Psychoanalysis
Neo-Freudianism
Neurosis
Anxiety
Selfhood
Imagination
Poetry
Religious conversion
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
Standard accounts of C. S. Lewis’s life and work have typically struggled to explain the complexity of the data and its apparent contradictions, and reduce his conversion to an inscrutable metaphysical event of unquestioned validity. Such treatments of Lewis are often constrained by the shared evangelical intent of the scholars concerned. This thesis argues, sympathetically but critically, that sense can more easily be made of Lewis’s life and work in general, and of his conversion and poetry in particular, if they are understood as the outworking of a dynamic psychological process, one bound up with his failure in early manhood to achieve success (in terms of either recognition or creative potency) as a poet. It argues further that after his conversion his creativity was hampered by the metaphysical constraints he placed on it, which were themselves partly an expression of neurotic demands he made on himself as a consequence of the earlier failure. In giving such an account, the thesis avoids the pitfalls of a Freudian analysis (the only kind to which Lewis has so far been subjected). Instead, the methodology used draws on the psychoanalytical theories of Karen Horney as applied within a broader humanist framework. Horney’s theory posits the imaginative creation in the neurotic person’s mind of an idealized self as a substitute for the real self, which is despised (Chapter 2). The idealized self must then be defended from the incursions of reality by the adoption of various defensive postures (Chapters 3 and 4). These postures, however, offer only partial solutions to the neurotic conflict and are inherently unstable, providing a spurious sense of integration (Chapter 5), as evidenced by the shifting from one solution to another in moments of crisis. Lewis is shown both to have undergone this self-idealization and, to some degree, to have intuited it, without extricating himself entirely from the process (Chapter 6).
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-19852
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Rights
Embargo Date: 2025-04-16
Embargo Reason: Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 16th April 2025
Collections
  • Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA) Theses
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/19852

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter