Beckett and the Mythology of Psychoanalysis

This is the first full length study to consider Beckett's informed but deeply ambivalent engagement with the terrain of psychoanalysis.

Taking psychoanalysis as a historically-specific construct, not as a privileged source of truth, Phil Baker shows the extent to which psychoanalytic ideas are present in Beckett's work at a fully literary and aesthetic level.

The focus is mainly on the prose, including lesser known early work.

There are notable new readings within Molloy and Ill Seen Ill Said, and the fullest reading to date of the Four Novellas.

It is also a significant contribution to understanding the gendered nature of Beckett's writing.