Abstract
In this article, I use Sigmund Freud’s “Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming” to provide an explanation for the creativity of Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Freud suggests that creative writing is a substitutionary form of play that is (1) related to the present in that the writing is the product of some current activity or happening; (2) linked to a past (usually infantile) experience of the fulfillment of a wish; and (3) representative of a vision of the future where the current wish is fulfilled. In his essay, Freud did not interpret any particular piece of creative writing in light of an author’s personal experience to validate his theory. He offered, rather, abstract speculations. In this article, I do focus on a particular piece of creative writing in light of an author’s personal experience; I offer a psychoanalytic reading of Geisel’s You’re Only Old Once! In doing so, I emphasize the resourcefulness of Geisel in that Geisel used creative writing in the present to come to terms with the past and to give himself a better future. In conclusion, I go beyond noting Geisel’s practical strategies of resourcefulness by offering a theological reflection on what the spirit of Geisel’s creativity might mean for pastors.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
This is why, for example, some persons find horror movies enjoyable. If the events in the horror movie were real (i.e., happening in real time in the present), it would be immoral to find pleasure in the suffering of others (e.g., by taking pleasure in watching the live footage of people falling from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001). But this does raise the question as to why it generally does not seem immoral to take pleasure in watching cinematic representations of past horrific events, such as in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper 1974)—although the release of this film did inspire a good deal of controversy and criticism (Gross 1974).
Simply describing the text here does not do justice to Geisel’s work; the pictures themselves—and especially this one—need to be experienced and analyzed (on this point relating to visualization, but in health and media studies, see Ostherr 2005).
However, a reviewer of this article noted, “What I find missing in the book is the sense of gratitude that at least some of us older adults have toward physicians who have accurately diagnosed and treated problems that tend to emerge in the natural aging process.” The reviewer suggested that a follow-up article could be written that focuses on older adults’ reactions to You’re Only Old Once! (Seuss 1986).
On the other hand, wishes, as understood in psychoanalytic thought, are often overdetermined. Thus, Geisel’s depiction of and identification with the old man also could be read as a wish to remain a child all his life. Given that he sought out two wives to care for him his whole life, this reading—suggested to me by Lee Butler—would seem to be valid as well.
For an example of this tendency, see James Dittes’s (1996) case of “Howard” (pp. 49–53).
References
Anderson, H. (2001). Sense and nonsense in the wisdom of Dr. Seuss. New Theology Review, 14(3), 37–50.
Benzel, J. (1997). Dr. Seuss finally transcended the gender barrier. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 181–183). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Bettelheim, B. (1977). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. New York: Vintage Books.
Bouwsma, W. (1990). Christian adulthood. In W. Bouwsma (Ed.), A useable past: Essays in European cultural history (pp. 397–417). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bunzel, P. (1997). The wacky world of Dr. Seuss delights the child—and adult—readers of his books. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 11–13). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Capps, D. (2005). A time to laugh: The religion of humor. New York: Continuum.
Capps, D. (2008). Laughter ever after: Ministry of good humor. St Lois: Chalice Press.
Capps, D., & Carlin, N. (2010). Living in limbo: Life in the midst of uncertainty. Eugene: Cascade Books.
Capps, D., & Carlin. (2014). The tooth fairy: psychological issues related to baby tooth loss and mythological working through. Pastoral Psychology, 63, 265–280.
Carlin, N. (2012). The sayings of Jesus in Family Guy: a pastoral reading of “I Dream of Jesus”. Pastoral Psychology, 61, 531–553.
Cassidy, E. (1997). Infantilization of the elderly in the institutional environment. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest: Paper AAI9737511.
Cohen, C. (2004). The Seuss, the whole Seuss, and nothing but the Seuss: A visual biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York: Random House.
Cott, J. (1997). The good Dr. Seuss. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 99–123). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Dittes, J. (1996). Driven by hope: Men and meaning. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
Dykstra, R. (2003). Maturing into boyhood: James E. Dittes on men and meaning. Pastoral Psychology, 52(1–2), 111–121.
Fensch, T. (1997). Introduction. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 1–5). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Freud, S. (2001a). Creative writers and day-dreaming. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 9, pp. 141–153). London: Vintage. (Original work published 1908).
Freud, S. (2001b). Civilization and its discontents. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 21, pp. 57–145). London: Vintage. (Original work published 1930).
Frutig, J. (1997). Dr. Seuss’s green-eggs-and-ham world. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 77–81). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Gorney, C. (1997). Dr. Seuss at 75: Grinch, cat in hat, wocket and generations of kids in his pocket. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 83–89). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Gross, L. (1974). “Texas Massacre” grovels in gore. Los Angeles Times, 14.
Hamman, J. (2011). A play-full life: Slowing down and seeking peace. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press.
Hersey, J. (1954). Why do children bog down in the first R? Life, 136–150.
Hooper, T. (1974). The Texas chain saw massacre. Hollywood: Bryanston Pictures.
Howard, R. (2000). The grinch. Hollywood: Universal Pictures.
Kahn, E. (1997). Children’s friend. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 15–35). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Lanes, S. (1997). Seuss for the goose is Seuss for the gander. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 45–51). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Lathem, E. (1997). The beginnings of Dr. Seuss: A conversation with Theodor S. Geisel. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 61–75). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Morgan, J., & Morgan, N. (1995). Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel: A biography. New York: Da Capro Press.
Moses, S. (2007). A just society for the elderly: the importance of justice as participation. Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, 21(2), 335–362.
Ostherr, K. (2005). Cinematic prophylaxis: Globalization and contagion. Durham: Duke University Press.
Pascal, J. (2011). Who was Dr. Seuss? London: Grosser & Dunlap.
Pease, D. (2010). Theodor Seuss Geisel. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pruyser, P. (1983). The play of the imagination: Towards a psychoanalysis of culture. New York: International Universities Press.
Seuss, D. (1937). And to think that I saw it on Mulberry street. New York: Vanguard.
Seuss, D. (1938). The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. New York: Vanguard.
Seuss, D. (1939). The seven Lady Godivas. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1940). Horton hatches the egg. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1954). Horton hears a Who! New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1957a). How the Grinch stole Christmas. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1957b). The cat in the hat. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1958). The cat in the hat comes back. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1960a). Green eggs and ham. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1960b). One fish two fish red fish blue fish. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1961). The Sneetches and other stories. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1970). Mr. Brown can moo! Can you? New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1971). The lorax. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1979). Oh say can you say? New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1984). The butter battle book. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1986). You’re only old once! A book for obsolete children. New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1990). Oh, the places you’ll go! New York: Random House.
Seuss, D. (1995). Daisy-head Mayzie. New York: Random House.
U.S. News and World Report. (1997). “Somebody’s got to win” in kids’ books: An interview with Dr. Seuss on his books for children, young and old. In T. Fensch (Ed.), Of Sneetches and Whos and the good Dr. Seuss (pp. 125–127). Jefferson: McFarland and Co.
Wulff, D. (1997). Psychology of religion: Classic and contemporary (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Jeffrey Spike for his suggestion to write a paper on Dr. Seuss. Also, I would like to thank the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics and the Group for New Directions in Pastoral Theology, especially Barbara McClure and Lee Butler, for their feedback on this paper. I originally presented a version of this paper at the October 2013 meeting of the Group for New Directions in Pastoral Theology. The discussion of the paper there was very fruitful. One suggestion was that I should divide the paper into two separate papers because I was trying to do too much (the previous version focused on the life of Theodor Geisel, one of his books, and medical ethics education). I took the advice offered. This article is the biographical paper; the other paper, forthcoming in The Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, is the medical ethics education paper. The medical ethics education paper also focuses on You’re Only Old Once!
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Carlin, N. The (Re)Source of Creativity: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Dr. Seuss’s You’re Only Old Once!. Pastoral Psychol 64, 603–619 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-014-0624-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-014-0624-2