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Literary Realism and Psychology

A Response to Moghaddam’s Proposal

University of Saskatchewan

Moghaddam has suggested that psychologists could profit from the study of fiction. Although agreeing with Moghaddam in general, I feel it necessary to specify, fairly closely, the type of fiction which might be susceptible to psychological analysis. I choose literary realism, as defined by Wellek, as a possible area for fruitful analysis. Having discounted the difficulties possibly besetting such an analysis, I give some examples of the ways in which the study of the works of those working in the literary realist tradition could enlarge and enhance our understanding of psychological processes. Ultimately, however, I conclude that, in order to benefit fully from such a study, psychology would have to undergo a conceptual transformation since the two areas into which, ostensibly, literary knowledge could be incorporated (personality theory and the practice and theory of psychotherapy) are not constituted in such a way that such incorporation is possible.

Key Words: fiction • literary realism • personality • psychology • psychotherapy

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