Electra after Freud

Jill Scott boldly argues that Electra (her character, her myth) rivals and perhaps even surpasses the usefulness of Oedipus in twentieth-century literature. Moreover, she is quick to attribute the revival of these characters in modern times to Sigmund Freud and his sexual theories.... The skill that permits Scott to draw from a background inclusive of psychoanalytic theory and the literatures and histories of twentieth-century America, Germany, and Austria is the same one that allows her to make startling yet solid connections among writers separated by time and space. The span of her work and her conclusions will not fail to absorb and provoke the reader.

-- Wendy Whelan-Stewart * College Literature *

This book opens with a compelling question: To whom does the twentieth century belong—Oedipus or Electra? Jill Scott sets out to demonstrate that the myth of Electra appeals to modern writers in ways the myth of Oedipus does not. The result is an interesting study of the creative uses of the myth by a varied group of writers, some relatively unfamiliar, as well as a look at their perceptions of psychoanalysis.... Electra after Freud demonstrates for me how compelling a figure Electra has been for many writers and artists of the past century.

-- Nancy Kulish * Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association *

Electra after Freud is a fine scholarly work.... It offers a fascinating insight into how literature, psychoanalysis, and cultural politics contribute to the poetic re/invention of Electra. Scott's readings of the above texts are persuasive, and her scholarship is distinguished by its careful textual analysis, astute ideological critique, and graceful prose style that is free of jargon.... Her readings of Electra's polyvalent femininity, through the critiques of Luce Irigaray, Melanie Klein, and Kristeva, provide a kind of maternal antidote to Freud's wilder speculations on sexual difference.... As a reflection on the suitability of theoretical paradigms for cultural analysis, the significance of Scott's monograph also resides in its investigation of psychoanalysis's impact on modernist drama, literature, and music. Published on the eve of Freud's 150th birthday, Electra after Freud re/affirms the actuality of psychoanalysis as a provocative literary-metaphorical method of interpretation (among its other possible uses).... Psychoanalytic criticism—when coupled with the analytical approach of cultural studies—remains a powerful explanatory tool for understanding the desires, hopes, and wishes surrounding the social construction of gender, sexuality, and subjectivity.

-- Mirko M. Hall * H-Germ