The study of "Beloved" by Toni Morrison from the perspective of psychoanalytic approach

This critical study explores psychoanalysis as a form of literary criticsm on Beloved, a Plutzer prized novel by Toni Morrison. Key concepts of the psychoanalytic approach is overviewed through the lenses of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis; Jacques émile Lacan, the forerunner French psychoanalyst; Alfred Adler, one of the initiatives of the school of the psychoanalysis; and Julia Kristeva, a living representative of French psychoanalysts. This makes up the theoretical background for the thesis. The necessary information about the literary career of Toni Morrison and the plot summary of Beloved has been viewed as central to the textual analysis. The psychoanalytic theory is applied both to the author?s life and the novel in order to show the close relation between the psychoanalysis and the literary criticism. Finally, this study challenges drawing out some psychoanalytic elements in the form of teaching materials so as to illustrate how it is possible to read a novel through the psychoanalytic perspective.