Carlo Strenger: The designed self: Psychoanalysis and contemporary identities
- PDF / 47,858 Bytes
- 4 Pages / 431 x 646 pts Page_size
- 73 Downloads / 197 Views
She utilizes a contextual–historical analysis in her discussion of Shelly and Bion as she addresses Bion’s preoccupations and language style. She writes: “Bion’s clinical drama on the couch can be read as a kind of back-formation that leads by way of Shelly’s Prometheus Unbound to a reclamation of the eighteenth-century aesthetic discourse of the Sublime” (p. 212). This is a rich densely packed scholarly collection of essays that threads together British object relations psychoanalysis as a valid and unique form of discourse. The chapters are sequenced chronologically more or less, but they can also be read out of the larger context of the book as separate essays. What is unique about this book is that it is not a typical applied psychoanalysis. Rather, it is an elaboration of the object relations school in relation to literature, art and its links to the continental threads in psychoanalysis. This book seems most likely of interest to the reader interested in literary criticism, cultural theory and the arts as they are expressed by this particular school of psychoanalysis.
Paul C. Cooper, L.P., NCPsy.A. 145 E. 35th St. #5FE, New York, NY 10016. [email protected] DOI:10.1057/palgrave.ajp.3350021
The designed self: Psychoanalysis and contemporary identities, Carlo Strenger, Analytic Press, New Jersey, 2004, 193pp. In his book The Designed Self, Carlo Strenger uses a combination of psychoanalysis and cultural studies in an attempt to accurately describe the contemporary self. Relying primarily on theoretical analyses of contemporary society and specific case studies from his clinical work, Strenger constructs a fluid, multifaceted idea of the self that requires that psychoanalysts be more open minded and flexible in order to adapt to the situations and needs of their patients. While, in my opinion, Strenger’s work fails to establish the value of psychoanalysis in contemporary culture, The Designed Self still serves as a thoughtful contribution to the psychoanalytic field by suggesting ways in which traditional, historical psychoanalysis can better serve the typically fragmented, pluralistic selves of persons of 21st century Western society. To ground his work in the context of contemporary culture, Strenger uses John Seabrook’s theory of Nobrow culture and David Brooks’ concept of Bobo ideology— a surprising choice, since Seabrook and Brooks are both journalists whose works appeal to a popular audience and lack a scholarly basis in theory or research. While Strenger never explains his decision to use these popular sources, he does interweave Seabrook and Brooks’ ideas with the theories of Kristeva, Foucault, Chodorow, and other scholars, along with insights from sessions with his patients to keep his
204 BOOK REVIEWS
book within the realm of scholarly credibility. Integrating these sources, Strenger argues that contemporary individuals simultaneously strive for bourgeoisie notions of success while they also disown elitist concepts of “high” culture, downplay their success, and work to create an ethos of personal au
Data Loading...
