A Discourse Analysis of Anxiety and Neurosis in the Character “Apisan” in Names Without Gender Based on Karen Horney’s Theory

Document Type : Persian Research Article

Authors

1 PhD in French Language and Literature, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

2 M.Sc. Candidate, Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

3 M.A. in International Law, Qom Seminary (Hawzah 'Ilmiyyah of Qom), Qom, Iran.

Abstract

Literature expresses the author's emotions and feelings, while psychology delves into the author's subconscious to analyze and interpret their psychological states. Karen Horney contends that certain parents, driven by their own neurotic needs, subject their children to humiliation, neglect, domination, rejection, or excessive overprotection, and when they fail to fulfill the child's need for genuine affection, security, and happiness, a fundamental hostility arises within the child, which, being rarely expressed openly, leads to repressed animosity and ultimately to anxiety and insecurity. This article employs a descriptive-analytical method, drawing upon Karen Horney's theory, to conduct a psychological analysis of the character Episen in Amélie Nothomb's Genderless Letters. Episen was deprived of genuine love, security, and affection, and this unfulfilled need provided the groundwork for the development of her neuroticism, intensifying her anxiety and destructive antagonism to the point that, at the age of eleven, she resolved to kill her father—a harrowing childhood decision indicating that her parents failed to provide her with a sense of affection and security. This latent hostility ultimately drives Episen into isolation and adversely affects her social relationships. The findings reveal that Episen's familial environment was incapable of fostering feelings of love, affection, and security; instead, it engendered a fundamental hostility within her, which led her to withdraw from people and seek seclusion, and her yearning for freedom and independence is so intense that she fits squarely within the rebellious isolated personality type.

Keywords

References

Emami, Nasserollah (1978). Basics and Methods of Literary Criticism. Tehran: Jami. [In Persian]
Tyson, Lois (2013). Contemporary Literary Criticism Theories, trans. Hossein Payandeh, 2nd ed. Tehran: Negahe Emrooz and Hekayat-e Qalam-e Nowin. [In Persian]
Schultz, Duane P., and Schultz, Sydney Ellen (2010). Theories of Personality, trans. Yahya Seyyed Mohammadiz, 17th ed. Tehran: Virayesh. [In Persian]
Feist, Jess, and Feist, Gregory J. (2009). Theories of Personality, trans. Yahya Seyyed Mohammadiz. Tehran: Ravan. [In Persian]
Nothomb, Amélie (2018). Sex and the Age of Consent (Names Without Gender), trans. Mohammad-Javad Kamali, 2018. Tehran: Ghatar. [In Persian]
Horney, Karen (1982). Neurosis and Human Growth, trans. Mohammad-Ja’far Musaffa. Tehran: Behjat. [In Persian]
Horney, Karen (1989). The Neurotic Personality of Our Time, trans. Ebrahim Khwaja-Nouri, 2nd ed. Tehran: Sharq. [In Persian]
Horney, Karen (2014). Our Inner Conflicts, trans. Mohammad-Ja’far Musaffa. Tehran: Behjat. [In Persian]
Horney, Karen (2016). Psychology of Women, trans. Soheil Sami. Tehran: Qoqnoos. [In Persian]
Horney, Karen (2018). Self-Analysis, trans. Mohammad-Ja’far Musaffa. Tehran: Behjat Bookstore Publications. [In Persian]
Horney, Karen (2023). The Neurotic Personality of Our Time, trans. Mohammad-Ja’far Musaffa. Tehran: Behjat. [In Persian]
Literary Discourse Analysis
Volume 3, Issue 3 - Serial Number 10
September 2025
Pages 1-20

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 01 June 2025
  • Revise Date: 25 August 2025
  • Accept Date: 29 August 2025
  • Publish Date: 29 September 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics