The Unconscious and Its Narratives

Zvi Giora’s study examines the unconscious from the perspective of developments in cognitive psychology. Dr. Giora, sorts out the merits and limitations of the classical Freudian view of the unconscious as wellspring and repository of narratives - specifically dreams, literary creativity and symptoms. Because the contents of the unconscious are ultimately unknowable, Dr. Giora concludes that narratives are better addressed in the absence of that cornerstone construct. His discussion of each of the three narrative forms as an independent unit constitutes another chapter in his ongoing critical dialogue with psychoanalysis.