EMPATHY IN LYTTON STRACHEY’S „ELIZABETH AND ESSEX“

Jezik, književnost i empatija (2025) (324-337. str.)

AUTOR(I) / AUTHOR(S):Miloš D. Đurić 

Download Full Pdf   

DOI: 10.46793/LLE25.324DJ

SAŽETAK / ABSTRACT:

This paper explores the construction and portrayal of empathy in Lytton Strachey’s Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History by means of a multidimensional theoretical analysis using language and materialism framework, social performance and psychoanalysis with Relevance Theory. Diverse emotional and power-motivated tensions between Queen Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex are explored with a view to identifying a particular multidimensional pattern. Relevance Theory serves as a critical tool in examining how Strachey’s narrative techniques elicit empathy for his historical subjects. This study underscores the intricate interplay of power, emotion, and narrative in shaping reader interpretations, offering a deeper understanding of empathy’s role in literary and historical representations. The relevance-based approach is more concerned with establishing how conceptual and procedural items contribute to utterance interpretation.

KLJUČNE REČI / KEYWORDS:

Empathy, Lytton Strachey, Elizabeth and Essex, Queen Elizabeth I, Earl of Essex

PROJEKAT / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

LITERATURA / REFERENCES:

  • Aitchison, J. (1997). The language web: The power and problem of words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Bachelard, G. (1953). Le matérialisme rationnel. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
  • Boyers, B. & Orrill, R. (1975). Laing and anti-psychiatry. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Brown, J. A. C. (1972). Freud and the Post-Freudians. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Brown, P. & Levinson, S. C. (2013). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. 22nd printing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Browning, D. C. (1967). Everyman’s English dictionary. Revised edition. Fourth printing. London & New York: J. M Dent & Sons Ltd. & E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.
  • Coward, R. & Ellis, J. (1977). Language and materialism: Developments in semiology and the theory of subject. Boston, London & Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  • Drever, J. (1964). A dictionary of psychology. (Revised by Harvey Wallerstein). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Freud, A. (1991). Introduction. In S. Freud, The essentials of psycho-analysis (1-4). Harmondsworth: Penguins Books Ltd.
  • Freud, S. (1973). New introductory lectures on psychoanalysis. (Translated by James Strachey. Edited by James Strachey, assisted by Angela Richards). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Freud, S. (1975). A general introduction to psychoanalysis. 26th printing. (Authorized English translation of the revised edition by Joan Riviere). New York: Pocket Books.
  • Freud, S. (1977). The interpretation of dreams. (Translated by James Strachey. Edited by James Strachey, assisted by Alan Tyson. The present edition revised by Angela Richards). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Freud, S. (1978). Introductory lectures on psychoanalysis. (Translated by James Strachey. Edited by James Strachey and Angela Richards). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Freud, S. (1979). On psychopathology: Inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety and other works. (Translated from the German under the general editorship by James Strachey. The present volume compiled and edited by Angela Richards). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Freud, S. (1991). The essentials of psycho-analysis. (Selected with an introduction and commentaries by Anna Freud. Translated from the German by James Strachey). London: Penguin Books Ltd. & Penguin Group.
  • Giovagnoli, A. R., Patrikelis, P., Parente, A., Parisi, A., & Meneses, R. F. (2025). Brain, cognition, and psychoanalysis: A scoping review, Brain Sciences 15(6), 1-19.
  • Goffman, E. (1978). The presentation of self in everyday life. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Kann, T., Berman, S. Cohen, M. S., Goldknopf, E., Gülser, M., Erlikhman, G., Trinh, K., Yokoyama, O. T. & Zaidel, E. (2023). Linguistic empathy: Behavioral measures, neurophysiological correlates, and correlation with psychological empathy, Neuropsychologia 191, 1-15.
  • Laing, R. D. (1972). Self and others. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Lemma, A. (2025). Introduction to the practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Third Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
  • Maingueneau, D. (2001). Pragmatique pour le discours littéraire. Édition mise à jour. Paris : Nathan.
  • Miller, J. (ed.) (1972). Freud: The man, his world, his influence. London: George Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd.
  • O’Sullivan, T., Hartley, J., Saunders, D. & Fiske, J. (1983). Key concepts in communication. London & New York: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
  • Polanyi, L. (1989). Telling the American story: A structural and cultural analysis of conversational storytelling. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
  • Procter, P. (1980). Longman dictionary of contemporary English. Third impression. Harlow & London: Longman Group Limited.
  • Roazen, P. (1979). Freud and his followers. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. (1995). Relevance: communication and cognition. Second edition. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. (1997). Remarks on relevance theory and the social sciences. Multilingua, 16, 145-151.
  • Sprott, W. J. H. (1975). Human groups. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Strachey, L. (1971). Elizabeth and Essex: A tragic history. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
  • Thomas, L., Wareing, S., Singh, I., Stilwell Peccei, J., Thornborrow, J. & Jones, J. (2004). Language, society and power: An introduction. Second edition. London & New York: Routledge – Taylor & Francis Group.
  • Vagg, J. (2023). Feeling into creativity: An affect theory of empathy in creative collaboration. Doctoral Dissertation. School of Education, College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University.
  • Wilson, D. (1975). Presuppositions and non-truth-conditional semantics. New York: Academic Press.
  • Wollheim, R. (1974). Freud. London: Fontana/Collins.
  • Woodward, G. W. O. (1975). Queen Elizabeth I. London: Pitkin Pictorials.
  • Zhang, M., Lu, X. (2024). Application of empathy theory in the study of the effectiveness and timeliness of information dissemination in regional public health events, Frontiers in Public Health 12(1), 1-9.