Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Cultural Criticism
The Act of Interpretation
Published 1983
A Kantian critique of literary theory with special focus on the problems close textual interpretation. The selection focuses the discussion on a distinction of the four modes of conceptual thinking. A more concrete starting point suggested in concept of reading as a co-created inter-subjective trans-action in which the psyche of one subject intends and is intended by the psyche of another.
Inwardness and Existence
Published 1989
A farewell to epistemology and ask attempt to construct "the dialectic of situated subjectivity." Situated subjectivity as the synthesis of existentialism and psychoanalysis in concrete experience. That position developed through the critical interrogation of four seminal thinkers: Hegel, Heidegger, Marx, and Freud. The selection —“Hegel, the Contemporary of the Future”—is the first chapter of that project. is from the first chapter of that discussion
Get the Guests
Published 1994
Five great plays of the American Theater analyzed in terms of their psychological impact . Development thereby of an understanding of theater as the last public space where audiences come together not to celebrate ideological beliefs but to experience the revelation of secrets—about themselves. Development of the original psychoanalytic theory needed to reveal (wc) that drama through the close interpretation of those plays.
Deracination
Published 1999
Hiroshima—welcome to the post-modern world. That trauma constituted through a psychoanalytic apprehension of what happened on August 6, 1945 and the psyche that realized itself through that act. The philosophic result: need for a deracination of the entire system of guarantees—philosophic, religious, ideological, and aesthetic—that protect us from experiencing “the tragic imperative” as the framework for understanding our historical situation.
An Evening with JonBenét Ramsey
Published 2004
As the Supreme Court holds: “There is Another Court.” The Theater. There issues denied discussion and resolution in our legal system are given the public representation required for warranted conclusions. This book does so through a full length play followed by two essays. And thereby some measure of justice for the child who gives there work its title.
Death’s Dream Kingdom
Published 2006
The trauma of 9-11 and its aftermath in American politics and culture examined through the psychoanalytic theory of historical knowledge developed in Deracination. Thereby a philosophic consideration of the psychology of Christian fundamentalism; the psychodynamics of terrorism; the problem of evil, and the ethics of resistance. Includes a leftist critique of Zizek and Lacan.
Art and Politics
Published 2008
Continues the theory and practiced of psychoanalytic cultural criticism of Death’s Dream Kingdom, with a focus on theater and the ideal of a tragic culture.
Theater
Art is a primary and original mode of thinking and cognition. And here represented as the concrete realization of the existential psychoanalysis developed in the theoretical books. The unique power of drama and fiction: the buried life laid bare, thereby offering the audience a way to that self-knowledge and deep psychological change that tragic experience makes possible.
Aberration of Starlight
The Emily Dickinson Monologue
Prolegomena to Persona
Manifesto for a Progressive Theater
Acting
The art of acting as a process of psychological self-interrogation realized as the search for those feelings you must experience in order to give yourself over to the inner life of the character you play.
Fiction
The Visionary Company of Love
Adultery in the Heart
Available April 2026
Volume
IIIAberration of Starlight
Work in Progress
Volume
IVAn Irregular Heartbeat Has Been Detected
Work in Progress
Rimbaud said that “we must reinvent love.” The tetralogy reveals that we can only do so by reinventing sex; by reclaiming Eros as that absolute and concrete union of body and psyche —and thus the genesis in experience of the only self-knowledge adequate to the conflicts that define the problems and the possibility of love. Or, as Hart Crane wrote in the poem—The Broken Tower—that gives the tetrology its title: “ And so it was I entered the broken world/ To trace the visionary company of love, its voice/ An instant in the wind (I know not whither hurled)/But not for long to hold each desperate choice.”
Biography
Walter A. Davis
Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University
209 S. 3rd St., Grand Haven, MI 49417-1319 · (616) 847-2103
Education
- Ph.D. 1969: The University of Chicago (with Distinction), English Language and Literature; Emphases: Literary Theory, Modern Literature
- M.A. 1966: Marquette University (with Honors), English Language and Literature
- B.A. 1964: Marquette University (Cum Laude), Double Major: English and Philosophy
Academic Appointments
- March 2002–Present: Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University, Department of English
- September 1988–2002: Professor, The Ohio State University, Department of English
- September 1977–June 1988: Associate Professor, The Ohio State University, Department of English
- September 1969–June 1977: Assistant Professor, The University of California at Santa Barbara, Department of English
Primary Publications
Books
- Art and Politics: Psychoanalysis, Ideology, Theatre. Pluto Press, London, 2007.
- Death's Dream Kingdom: The American Psyche Since 9-11. Pluto Press, London, 2006.
- An Evening with JonBenét Ramsey: A Play and Two Essays. iUniverse, 2004.
- Deracination: Historicity, Hiroshima, and the Tragic Imperative. SUNY Press, 2001.
- Get the Guests: Psychoanalysis, Modern American Drama, and the Audience. University of Wisconsin Press, 1993.
- Inwardness and Existence: Subjectivity in/and Hegel, Heidegger, Marx, and Freud. University of Wisconsin Press, 1989.
- The Act of Interpretation: A Critique of Literary Reason. University of Chicago Press, 1979.
Plays
- Aberration of Starlight: The Emily Dickinson Monologue. St. Paul, MN, 2013.
- An Evening with JonBenét Ramsey. Minneapolis, MN, 2011.
- Trim: The Tyger Woods Story. Staged readings in Boston, New York, and Chicago.
- Between Two Deaths: The San Quentin Monologue. Frequently performed in U.S. prisons.
- Cowboy's Sweetheart. Boston, MA, 2010.
- The Holocaust Memorial: A Play About Hiroshima. Bloomington: First Books, 2000.
Works in Progress
- Adultery in the Heart (novel)
- Aberration of Starlight (novel)
- An Irregular Heartbeat Has Been Detected (novel)
- Psyche as Tragic Process: A Critique of Psychoanalytic Theory
Acting, Selected
- King Lear. Role: King Lear. Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company, 2009.
- Buried Child. Role: Dodge. University of South Carolina, 2006.
- Glengarry Glen Ross. Role: Dave Moss. CATCO, 1987.
- Serenading Louie. Role: Alex. Player's Theatre, 1984.
- Hamlet. Role: Hamlet. Abbey Players, 1981.
- Equus. Role: Dr. Dysart. Little Theatre Off Broadway, 1984.
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Role: The Player King. Player's Theatre, 1983.
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Role: Brick. Little Theatre Off Broadway, 1983.
- Getting Out. Role: Carl. Player's Theatre, 1983.
- The Odd Couple. Role: Oscar Madison. Gallery Players, 1982.
- Family Business. Role: Bobby Stein. Gallery Players, 1982.