Literary Criticism/Psychological Literary Criticism

Psychological criticism focuses primarily on the characters, and on what psychological forces influence and shape them throughout the work. This school of criticism emphasizes character development and the relationships between characters. Most psychological critics rely on the works of Sigmund Freud as their psychological base, though this is by no means necessary.

Review of "New Psychologies in Psychological Literary Criticism"
 * Interdisciplinary Literary Criticism,* 7.2 (Spring 2006): 102 -121.

Joseph Carroll, Literary Darwinism: Evolution, Human Nature, and Literature. New York: Taylor Francis/Routledge, 2004;  Sara E. Cooper, ed. The Ties that Bind: Questioning Family Dynamics and Family Discourse in Hispanic Literature. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2004; Piotr Sadowski, Dynamism of Character in Shakespeare's Mature Tragedies. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 2003.

For those interested in psychologically-oriented literary criticism, see *Striking at the Joints* (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1996);