Book Notice

Dove That Returns, The Dove That Vanishes. Paradox and Creativity in Psychoanalysis


by Michael Parsons

Vol 39. in The New Library of Psychoanalysis
Published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group)
0-415-21181-6 2000 hbk
0-415-21182-4 2000 pbk

 

 

The nature of psychoanalysis seems contradictory - deeply personal, subjective and intuitive, yet requiring systematic theory and principles of technique. The objective quality of psychoanalytic knowledge is paradoxically dependent on the personal engagement of the knower with what is known. 
In The Dove that Returns, The Dove that Vanishes, Michael Parsons explores the tension of this paradox. As they respond to it, and struggle to sustain it creatively, analysts discover their individual identities. The work of outstanding clinicians such as Marion Milner and John Klauber is examined in detail. The reader also encounters oriental martial arts, Greek tragedy, the landscape painting of John Constable, a Winnicottian theory of creativity and a discussion of the significance of play in psychoanalysis. From such varies topics evolves a deepening apprehension of the nature of clinical experience. 
Illustrated throughout with clinical examples, The Dove that Returns, The Dove that Vanishes will be prove valuable both to those in the field of psychoanalysis, and to those in the arts and humanities who are interested in contemporary psychoanalytic thinking.

 

 

 

“Whatever their theoretical allegiance, everyone who reads this impressive book will be enriched by the experience”

 
Margaret Arden
The Psychotherapy Review

 

 

"This is a very highly recommended book both because of the importance of Parsons's ideas, and because of his engaging and moving manner of telling a story".

Steven Cooper
Review in  JAPA vol 50 No 3, 2002

 

The books in this series can be ordered from Karnac Books Ltd



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