Being a Character: Psychoanalysis and Self Experience / Edition 1

by Christopher Bollas

Overview

Each person invests many of the objects in his life with his or her own unconscious meaning, each person subsequently voyages through an environment that constantly evokes the self's psychic history. Taking Freud's model of dreamwork as a model for all unconscious thinking, Christopher Bollas argues that we dreamwork ourselves into becoming who we are, and illustrates how the analyst and the patient use such unconscious processes to develop new psychic structures that the patient can use to alter his or her self experience. Building on this foundation, he goes on to describe some very special forms of self experience, including the tragic madness of women cutting themselves, the experience of a cruising homosexual in bars and bathes and the demented ferocity of the facist state of mind. An original interpreter of classical theory and clinical issues, in Being a Character Christopher Bollas takes the reader into the very texture of the psychoanalytic process.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415088152
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/15/1993
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Introduction. Part I: Aspects of Self Experiencing. The Evocative Object. Being a Character. Psychic Genera. The Psychoanalyst's Use of Free Association. Part II: Cutting. Cruising in the Homosexual Arena. Violent Innocence. The Fascist State of Mind. Contents. Why Oedipus? Generational Conciousness. References. Index.

Editorial Reviews

The author suggests that psychotherapists can analyze their patients' narratives of daily life in much the same way that dreams are analyzed, since the process by which each of us forms a self-image is analogous to the way we unconsciously form a dream narrative. While this is an interesting idea, Bollas's lack of reading outside his narrow specialty means that the bulk of the book is devoted to the ``rediscovery'' of concepts long common in philosophy, social psychology, and modern dream research. The second half of the book, consisting of a series of chapters on various analytical issues, has no apparent relationship to the first half. Much of the material is unsupported by any empirical data (e.g., he takes for granted the notions that homosexuals are obsessed with their mothers and that some children are shy because they have not successfully resolved their Oedipal crisis) or are commonplace ideas to those outside the narrow Freudian world. This book will appeal only to those libraries supporting training programs in Freudian psychoanalysis.-- Mary Ann Hughes, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman

Library Journal

‘Being a Character explores the subject of self-knowledge and the individuals' construction of meaning in their lives. It is always stimulating, particularly through the author's use of his own self-experience. This book is well worth reading by anyone involved in psychotherapy or related work. Indeed, it could fruitfully be read by a much wider audience.' - Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

‘... enlightening, challenging and thought-provoking read ...' - British Jrnl of Psychiatry

‘Here again is that man who is a psychoanalyst and does not write like a psychoanalyst; i.e. who miraculously avoids being boring, dogmatic, pedantic ...' - Andre Green, M.D.

‘Being a Character will delight all those already aquainted with Christopher Bollas's earlier work and will open up new vistas for all those who would penetrate further into the unique quality and vital difference that distinguish one individual from another ... this book will be read by clinicians, theoreticians, and educated laymen with equal fascination and reward.' - Joyce McDougall

‘It is a joy to read a book where one is happy to read a paragraph or a page over and over again because of the wealth of meaning that comes with each reading. Everyone who is interested in what happens in the space between and within people should read it.' - Counselling

"Being a Character explores the subject of self-knowledge and the individuals' construction of meaning in their lives. It is always stimulating, particularly through the author's use of his own self-experience. This book is well worth reading by anyone involved in psychotherapy or related work. Indeed, it could fruitfully be read by a much wider audience." - Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

From the Publisher