William and William; the birth and death of subjectivity in the works of William Shakespeare and William S. Burroughs
Abstract
We open with the question of subjectivity as it is presented in Hamlet; the focus then moves to the breakdown of subjectivity as experienced in extreme situations and clinical psychosis. Gabel’s idea of continuity from psychosis to ideology (false consciousness) is used to show that William S. Burroughs is in fact a theorist of global ideological pathology. The concept of reification allows us to combine the voices of Gabel and Burroughs. This is not a study of what has been said about Burroughs or Shakespeare, our concern is with the future of the City, not the nature of the finger that points towards it. The cycle of “William & William” refers to the birth and destruction of subjectivity as defined by “conditions such as these”.
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Nuttal, A. D. (1988). Hamlet: Conversations with the Dead. Proceedings of the British Academy, LXXIV, 53-69.
Postel, J., & Allen D. F. (1994). La psychiatrie. Paris, France: Larousse.
Taibbi, M. (20170). Insane clown president. London, UK: W. H. Allen.
Valenstein, E. S. (1968). Great and desperate cures New York, NY: Basic Books.
Wilson, J. D. (1995). What happens in Hamlet. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1935)
Allen, D. (2017). Schizoïdie et mélancolie simple: les psychoses discrètes. L’Information psychiatrique; 93, 685-91.
Abraham, K. (1949). The psycho-sexual differences between hysteria and dementia praecox in Selected papers on psychoanalysis. London, UK: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1908)
Bullock, A., & Stallybrass, O. (1977). Dictionary of modern thought. London, UK: Fontana.
Burroughs, W. S., & Odier, D. (1980). The job. New York, NY: Grove Press.
Burroughs, W. S. (1959/1968). Naked lunch. London, UK: Corgi Books.
Burroughs, W.S. (1967). The ticket that exploded. New York, NY: Grove Press.
Burroughs, W. S. (1982). Early routines. Santa Barbara, CA: Cadmus Editions.
Burroughs, W. S., & Ginsburg, A. (1981). The yage letters. San Francisco, CA: City Lights.
Burroughs, W. S. (1979). Roosevelt after inauguration. San Francisco, CA: City Lights.
Burroughs W. S. (2000). Last words. New York, UK: Grove Press.
Burroughs W. S. 1974). Exterminator. London, UK: Calder & Boyars.
Burroughs W. S. (1982). Letters to Allen Ginsberg, 1953-1957. New York, NYL Full Court Press.
Burroughs, W. S. (1974). The wild boys. London, UK: Corgi.
Burroughs, W. S. (1977). Junky. London: UK, Penguin.
Burroughs, W. S. (1967). The soft Machine. London, UK: Corgi.
Burroughs, W. S. (1977). Dead fingers talk. London, UK: W. H. Allen.
Burroughs, W. S. (1993). The letters of William S. Burroughs, 1945-59. London, UK: Penguin.
Burroughs, W. S. (1980). Port of Saints. Berkeley, CA: Blue Wind.
Crystal, D. B. (2002). Shakespeare’s words. London, UK: Penguin Books.
Clare, J. (2003). I Am, selected poetry of John Clare. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (Original work published 1848)
Dalzell, T. G. (2011). Freud’s Schreber. London: UK, Karnac.
Danon-Boileau, L. (Ed) (1980). Textes sans Sépulture. Paris, France: Inter-Editions.
Debord, G. (1992). Commentaires sur la société du spectacle & Préface à la quatrième édition italienne de La société du spectacle. Paris, France:,Gallimard.
Deutsch, H. (1965). Neuroses and character types. New York, NY: IUP. (Original work published 1936)
Enoch, M,. & Trethowan, W. (1979). Uncommon psychiatric syndrome. Bristol, UK: Wright.
Frame, J. 1949). The philosophy of insanity. New York, NY: Greenberg. (Original work published 1860)
Freud, S. (1961) Neurosis and psychosis and the loss of reality in neurosis and psychosis. S.E. XIX. London, UK: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923)
Gabel, J. (1961/1975). False consciousness: an essay on reification. (M. A. Thompson Trans.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Gabel, J. (1997). Ideologies and the corruption of thought. New Brunswick:, NJ Transaction Publishers.
Genil-Perrin, G. (1927). Les paranoïaques. Paris, France: Maloine.
Shakespeare W. (1936). Hamlet. text established by J. Dover Wilson, London, CUP.
Haslam, J. (1988). Illustrations of madness. London, UK, Routledge. (Original work published 1810)
Hérouard, B. (Ed) (1993). Ecrits inspirés et langue fondamentale. Paris, France: Epel.
Heuyer, G. (1973). Psychoses collectives et suicides collectifs. Paris, UK, PUF.
Jackson S. W. (1986). Melancholia and depression. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
King Crimson (1969). In the court of the crimson king. Island Records, CD.
Klein, F. (1998). Une folie psychiatrique. Paris, France: Les Empêcheurs. (Original work published 1937)
Krystal, H. (Ed) (1968). Massive psychic trauma. New York, NY: Indiana University Press.
Lacan, J. (2001). The mirror stage, in Ecrits: a selection (A. Sheridan Trans.). Oxford, UK: Routledge. (Original work published 1949)
Laing, R. D. (1960/1969). The divided self. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
Leuret, F. (1834). Fragments psychologiques sur la folie. Paris, France: Crochard.
Leys, S. (1984). Orwell ou l’horreur de la politique. Paris, France: Hermann.
Burroughs, W. S., & Lotringer, S. (Ed.) (2001). The collected interviews of William S. Burroughs. Los Angeles, CA: Semiotext(e).
Mary, B. (1999). Freud et le ‘langage d’organe’. In Savoir de la psychose (pp. 17-63). Paris, France: De Boeck.
Mervant, J. (2008). Etre ou ne pas être né d’une femme. Fontanil, France: Alzieu.
Michaud, H. (2011). Les revenants de la mémoire. In Freud et Shakespeare (pp. 32-33). Paris, France: PUF.
Minkowski, E. (1927). La schizophrénie. Paris, France: Payot.
Milligan S., & Antrobus, J. (1970). The bedsitting room. Totton, UK: Hobbs
Mottram E. (1977) William Burroughs, The algebra of need. London, UK: Marion Boyars.
Murphy, T. (1997). Wising up the marks: The amodern William Burroughs. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
Nuttal, A. D. (1988). Hamlet: Conversations with the Dead. Proceedings of the British Academy, LXXIV, 53-69.
Postel, J., & Allen D. F. (1994). La psychiatrie. Paris, France: Larousse.
Taibbi, M. (20170). Insane clown president. London, UK: W. H. Allen.
Valenstein, E. S. (1968). Great and desperate cures New York, NY: Basic Books.
Wilson, J. D. (1995). What happens in Hamlet. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1935)
Published
25-Jun-2018
How to Cite
Allen, D. (2018). William and William; the birth and death of subjectivity in the works of William Shakespeare and William S. Burroughs. Language and Psychoanalysis, 7(1), 35-61. https://doi.org/10.7565/landp.v7i1.1582
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