Summary & Questions

Felman writes about Freudian interpretations of “The Turn of the Screw” in this article. While Felman centers “The Turn of the Screw” in her discussion, ultimately she engages in broader questions about Freudian and psychoanalytic reading. What does it mean to do a Freudian reading of literature? What constitutes “Freudian” and what value does it present? “In thus examining the paradigm of the so-called ‘Freudian reading of The Turn of the Screw’ and its distortion of Freud's theory as we could here but begin to read it in Freud's text, our intention has been to displace and dislocate the much-repeated, central question of the polemic:’ is the Freudian reading true or false?’  by suggesting that we do not yet even know what a Freudian reading really is” (117).  I found her articulations and questions to be particularly valuable, as I myself am struggling to define the bounds of a Freudian reading. What differentiates a Freudian reading from other psychoanalytic theorists? What truly constitutes Freud? And what is the value in doing a Freudian reading? What possibilities are available or foreclosed through doing Freudian reading?