Ted Hughes and Trauma

This book is a radical re-appraisal of the poetry of Ted Hughes, placing him in the context of continental theorists such as Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida and Slavoj Zizek to address the traumas of his work. As an undergraduate, Hughes was visited in his sleep by a burnt fox/man who left a bloody handprint on his essay, warning him of the dangers of literary criticism. Hereafter, criticism became 'burning the foxes'. This book offers a defence of literary criticism, drawing Hughes' poetry and prose into the network of theoretical work he dismissed as 'the tyrant's whisper' by demonstrating a shared concern with trauma.

Covering a wide range of Hughes' work, it explores the various traumas that define his writing. Whether it is comparing his idea of man as split from nature with that of Jacques Lacan, considering his challenging relationship with language in light of Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida, seeing him in the art gallery and at the movies with Gilles Deleuze, or considering his troubled relationship with femininity in regard to Teresa Brennan and Slavoj Zizek, Burning the Foxes offers a fresh look at a familiar poet.

Auteur

Danny O'Connor teaches at The University of Liverpool,UK. This is his first book.

Résumé
Arguing that Hughes's poetry is fundamentally defined by traumatic representation, Ted Hughes and Trauma reads Hughes's work alongside theorists such as Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek - the kind of writing Hughes dismissed as 'the tyrant's whisper'. Far from being antithetical to his poetry, Danny O'Connor demonstrates they are actually dealing with the same issues. Detailed, engaging and promising to offer an entirely new approach to Hughes's work, Ted Hughes and Trauma is an important study for all scholars and students of higher-level literature.

Contenu
Introduction. A tyrannical reading of Ted Hughes.- Chapter One. Hughes's Creaturely Creatures.- Chapter Two. Hughes's Landscape, Lacan's Real.- Chapter Three. En Attendent Crow.- Chapter Four. Hughes meets Bacon, Baskin and the Big Screen.- Chapter Five.Hughes and War Trauma.- Chapter Six. Hughes and the Burning of Literary Criticism.- Chapter Seven. 'She did life'.- Chapter Eight. Hughes, the Goddess and the Foundational Fantasy.- Conclusion. A New Classicism?.- Acknowledgments.- Bibliography.