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Type :article
Subject :P Language and Literature
Main Author :Rakhees, Arafat Abdali
Additional Authors :Lajiman Janoory
Title :The author's personality under Freudian lenses: a psychoanalytic analysis of Edward Albee's psyche in the light of his dramatic works
Place of Production :Tanjong Malim
Publisher :Fakulti Pembangunan Manusia
Year of Publication :2020
Corporate Name :Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
PDF Full Text :Login required to access this item.

Abstract : Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
Based on Freudian psychoanalytic concepts: sexuality, the unconscious, the tripartite psyche and defence mechanisms, this study investigates the relationship between the personal life of the American playwright, Edward Albee and his selected plays, namely Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Ballad of the Sad Café, A Delicate Balance and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? It exposes how Albee sublimates his sufferings and reveals his life via his dramatic works. The study also shows the traumatic experiences which Albee undergoes during his childhood, a matter that affects his behaviour and actions and leaves a deep scar on his own psyche. Besides, it displays how the author sketches his fictional characters to express his unconscious mind, bruised ego and troubled childhood. Further, the study exposes the defence mechanism the playwright takes up to legitimize his suppressed wishes and undesirable impulses. The aforementioned plays are selected because they are autobiographical and self-referential in that they highlight significant aspects of Albee's own personal life and expose the psychological effects of past experiences, stored in the mind of the playwright since childhood, on his personality as an adult.

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