W O R D F O L I O
Literary criticisms, book reviews, academic papers, short fiction by Boo Sujiwaro
The Romantic Cure to Creative Neurosis: John Keats’ Ode to Psyche and the Relationship Between Creativity and Suffering
In the Romantic period, the concept of the ‘genius’ moved out of the external realm of ‘pagan piety’ and into the inner realm of the lone suffering artist afflicted by their own genius. John Keat’s Ode to Psyche sits at the intersection between two worldviews—one of antiquity which looks outwards for creative inspiration, and that of the more ‘modern’ view, which confuses the ‘genius’ for the artist. This has inadvertently proven to be the root of creative neurosis.
Ghost in the Black Box: Analysis of ‘Black Coat’ by Ted Hughes
In ‘Black Coat’, Ted Hughes poignantly portrays himself as failing to become a ‘blank slate’ upon which Sylvia Plath projects her father. Through a series of meaningful juxtapositions and philosophical allusions—such as tabula rasa and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s beetle in the box—Hughes effectively emphasises the multiplicity of truths and the imperviousness of the human mind.