Tormenting Angel: A Psychoaesthetic Theory of Imagination (Sexuality and Literature)

Literary theorists, psychologists, visual artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, composers, and many others have grappled with the complexities of understanding the genesis of creative imagination. This study opens up a new dialogue for exploring the process of imagining and the creation of «image-work.» By exploring the psychological, physiological, and aesthetic aspects of the «process» of imagining, a direct and revealing link is made between «image-work» and «dream-work.» This link centers on re-evaluating and rethinking Freud's «secondary revision.» While this innovative theory is applied to modern literary texts it becomes obvious that this study addresses a much larger question about the genesis of creative imagination - a question that now has other dimensions as technological possibilities shed a new light on the creation of images.