Romanticism, Psychoanalysis and the Interpretation of Silence

Representations of intimacy in romantic and psychoanalytic literature typically oscillate between forceful affirmations of sympathetic attunement and emphatic assertions of a vital existential privacy. Thus the ethical aspiration toward reciprocity seems to be avoided - either taken for granted or d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European romantic review 2010-10, Vol.21 (5), p.653-672
Main Author: Yousef, Nancy
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Representations of intimacy in romantic and psychoanalytic literature typically oscillate between forceful affirmations of sympathetic attunement and emphatic assertions of a vital existential privacy. Thus the ethical aspiration toward reciprocity seems to be avoided - either taken for granted or deemed unattainable. By attending to the rich valences of silence in romantic lyric and post-Freudian writing, this essay traces forms of intimacy in which demands for reciprocity are temporarily suspended, and in which emotions that exceed the logic of mutuality (gratitude, humility) limn a relation to the other that cannot be defined under the ethical and epistemological category of sympathy.
ISSN:1050-9585
1740-4657
DOI:10.1080/10509585.2010.499031