This paper is an analysis on Freud's explanation of the creative process in writing. The focus of this paper will be the work titled "Writers and Day-Dreams (1908/7). This paper begins with a discussion of creativity as it is articulated in Plato, and then proceeds with a discussion of Freud. Whereas Plato maintain that there is such a thing as 'divine inspiration', and that poetry is the product of a seemingly intoxicated soul, Freud ground the process of creativity in the basic dynamics of 'play' and 'fantasy'. There is an extent to which this position essentially views creativity as 'child play', and it will be argued that in contrast to Plato, this is a fairly 'reductive' and 'problematic' view of the creative process with respect to the activity of writing. 7 pgs. 11 f/c. 2b.
