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Freud demonstrated how the study of literature could illustrate and confirm central psychoanalytic doctrines. He was also inspired by literary works. He wrote papers based on the literary texts of Shakespeare, Ibsen, Dostoevski and Sophocles. The oedipus complex as a scientific concept would have been impossible without Freud's great interest in literature.
Psychoanalysis is not merely the discovery of the unconscious underworld. It does not limit itself to the investigation of pathological formations and primitive mental phenomena, but offers a theory and method for explaining how the whole mind works. Further, complex creative processes may be examined and comprehended by psychoanalytic conceptualizations.
The Danish psychoanalyst Martin Lotz has made a very interesting contribution to the psychoanalytic study of creativity. He has written a book about H. C. Andersen (1805-1875), the famous Danish writer of fairy tales. He shows how H. C. Andersen's various oedipal traumas, primal scene experiences and phallic-narcissistic conflicts influenced his character development and formed the basis of his psychic disturbances and phobias which he suffered from during most of his life. However, his traumas, specific object relation experiences and core conflicts simultaneously represented a dynamic source for his writing of fairy tales and short stories.
Lotz criticizes the studies of other analysts who have examined H. C. Andersen's works and who have formulated hypotheses related to his personality and unconscious fantasy life. Lotz finds the studies of these analysts insufficient, as they do not correlate their hypotheses with biographical material. Such objections cannot be raised against Lotz. He