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Psychoanalysis: An Interdisciplinary Retrospective
An Interdisciplinary Retrospective offers in-depth discussions of and conversations with six psychoanalytic Christopher Bollas, Nancy Chodorow, Sander L. Gilman, Adam Phillips, and Allen and Joan Wheelis. All are genuinely interdisciplinary in their work, bridging multiple cultural and professional positions, but all are deeply rooted in the humanities. They are all also highly controversial, challenging and critiquing conventional psychoanalytic wisdom while also devoting themselves to expanding psychoanalytic knowledge. Drawing on interviews as well as his own readings, Jeffrey Berman examines the continuities and discontinuities in each writer's work while also exploring the interrelationships between psychoanalysis and the humanities. The book ultimately offers a portrait of psychoanalysis as a work in progress, a plurality of visions that might more aptly be termed psychoanalyses .
266 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2023
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November 30, 2025
If you, like Adam Phillips, believe that psychoanalysis is best read as a work of literature, then you must also believe that psychoanalytic books are best reviewed by a literary critic. In his well-known warm, reflective, and lucid style, Jeffery Berman discusses the work of five psychoanalytic writers: Sander L. Gilman, Allen Wheelis, Nancy Chodorow, Christopher Bollas, and Adam Phillips.
Berman begins each section with a brief biography of the writer, followed by a discussion of their books in chronological order, and concludes with a conversation with that writer. His discussion of each book is interwoven with other reviews written by different authors throughout the years, along with interviews conducted with the five psychoanalytic writers whose work the book covers.
Whether you know these writers or not, whether you have read their work before or intend to read it later, you will enjoy reading this book. I have read most of Adam Phillips’ books that Berman discusses here. Yet my impression of them—their effect on me, the “home message” I received—is entirely different from the one Berman writes about. And that’s the greatest thing about reading literature: you create your own interpretation of it.
Berman begins each section with a brief biography of the writer, followed by a discussion of their books in chronological order, and concludes with a conversation with that writer. His discussion of each book is interwoven with other reviews written by different authors throughout the years, along with interviews conducted with the five psychoanalytic writers whose work the book covers.
Whether you know these writers or not, whether you have read their work before or intend to read it later, you will enjoy reading this book. I have read most of Adam Phillips’ books that Berman discusses here. Yet my impression of them—their effect on me, the “home message” I received—is entirely different from the one Berman writes about. And that’s the greatest thing about reading literature: you create your own interpretation of it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review