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The Untouched Key: Tracing Childhood Trauma in Creativity and Destructiveness
As in her former books, Alice Miller again focuses on facts. She is as determined as ever to cut through the veil that, for thousands of years now, has been so meticulously woven to shroud the truth. When she lifts that veil and brushes it aside, the results are astonishing, amply demonstrated by her analyses of the works of Nietzsche, Picasso, Kathe Kollwitz, Buster Keaton, and others. With the key shunned by so many for so long--childhood--she opens rusty locks and offers her readers a wealth of unexpected perspectives. What did Picasso express in Guernica? Why did Buster Keaton never smile? Why did Nietzsche heap so much opprobrium on women and religion and lose his mind for 11 years? Why did Hitler and Stalin become tyrannical mass murderers?
Miller investigates these and other questions thoroughly in this book. She draws from her discoveries that human beings are not "innately" destructive, that they are made that way by ignorance, abuse, and neglect, particularly if no sympathetic witness comes to their aid. She also shows why some mistreated children do not become criminals, but instead bear witness as artists to the truth about their childhoods, even though in purely intuitive and unconscious ways.
Miller investigates these and other questions thoroughly in this book. She draws from her discoveries that human beings are not "innately" destructive, that they are made that way by ignorance, abuse, and neglect, particularly if no sympathetic witness comes to their aid. She also shows why some mistreated children do not become criminals, but instead bear witness as artists to the truth about their childhoods, even though in purely intuitive and unconscious ways.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
41 people are currently reading
1671 people want to read
About the author
Alice Miller
14 books1,055 followersAlice Miller was a Polish-Swiss psychologist, psychoanalyst and philosopher of Jewish origin, who is noted for her books on parental child abuse, translated into several languages. She was also a noted public intellectual.
Her book The Drama of the Gifted Child caused a sensation and became an international bestseller upon the English publication in 1981. Her views on the consequences of child abuse became highly influential. In her books she departed from psychoanalysis, charging it with being similar to the poisonous pedagogies.
Her book The Drama of the Gifted Child caused a sensation and became an international bestseller upon the English publication in 1981. Her views on the consequences of child abuse became highly influential. In her books she departed from psychoanalysis, charging it with being similar to the poisonous pedagogies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
July 31, 2025
According to Miller, creativity and destructiveness often stem from the same wound. If so, childhood wounds can either be transformed into beauty through creativity or turn into destruction when left unchecked. So, protecting children is the best way to prevent violence they may commit in the future.
Thankfully, while destructive forces can only come from darkness, creativity comes from light first and foremost. That's a comforting thought.
A nice book. Solid psychological approach without a lot of technical jargon. And with an important message: let's protect children and childhood from all kinds of darkness. Including the glittering one of technology.
Thankfully, while destructive forces can only come from darkness, creativity comes from light first and foremost. That's a comforting thought.
A nice book. Solid psychological approach without a lot of technical jargon. And with an important message: let's protect children and childhood from all kinds of darkness. Including the glittering one of technology.
June 22, 2021
Most of this book is about Nietzsche. The author is correct that most biographers of Nietzsche prefer to skim over his childhood. His childhood was brutal. His father died young. And his mother and sister were judgmental, repressive, and controlling toward Nietzsche. They came to represent the Christianity he would attack as utterly loathsome in his adult writings.
It doesn't take a genius to understand that the adults who are in control of a child from infancy have a profound effect on that child, for good or evil. I have raised two children and now help care for a young granddaughter. A child who is loved and given positive attention will grow up happy. A child who is abused emotionally and/or physically will be full of distresses that he or she will carry with them the rest of their lives.
By taking a close look at the childhood of Nietzsche, the author lays bare the horrible level of abuse that would haunt him until he went insane. (The explanation that it was from syphilis was a cover story).
I know from a new biography of Nietzsche that he did not write "The Will to Power" that was ascribed to him. His nasty, anti-Semitic sister and her likeminded husband took passages from Nietzsche's journals and letters and distorted them, while overlaying their own philosophy that fascists would find so attractive. It's unfortunate that Nietzsche is remembered for this.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
It doesn't take a genius to understand that the adults who are in control of a child from infancy have a profound effect on that child, for good or evil. I have raised two children and now help care for a young granddaughter. A child who is loved and given positive attention will grow up happy. A child who is abused emotionally and/or physically will be full of distresses that he or she will carry with them the rest of their lives.
By taking a close look at the childhood of Nietzsche, the author lays bare the horrible level of abuse that would haunt him until he went insane. (The explanation that it was from syphilis was a cover story).
I know from a new biography of Nietzsche that he did not write "The Will to Power" that was ascribed to him. His nasty, anti-Semitic sister and her likeminded husband took passages from Nietzsche's journals and letters and distorted them, while overlaying their own philosophy that fascists would find so attractive. It's unfortunate that Nietzsche is remembered for this.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
August 21, 2008
The subtitle of this book is “Tracing Childhood Trauma in Creativity and Destructiveness.” The premise of this book is that a child can endure any kind of trauma if he or she has a witness, that is, a person who supports the child emotionally or sympathizes with the plight of the child even if that person cannot change events.
When children are traumatized by cruel child rearing practices, external events such as war, or outright abuse and they have no sympathizing witness, it creates evil and Alice Miller has written extensively on Adolf Hitler as her poster child of the effects of child abuse. In this book she discusses the trauma of several artists by examining their work and exploring their childhoods. She discusses repressed childhood experiences expressed in the art of Pablo Picasso, Kathe Kollwitz, Buster Keyton, Chiam Soutine and the work of Frederich Nietzche. She uncodes the story of childhood trauma no longer remembered in adulthood of these artists.
“All well-brought up children are afraid that their angry words might kill those they love”. Alice Miller states in her discussion of Frederich Nietzche who lived with the contradiction between the morality preached to him and the actual behavior of the people who raised and taught him, clinging to idealization of these abusive people. His father, though affectionate, forbade certain feelings and severely punished his son for expressing them. His father died when he was four and left him in a household of females all trying to outdo each other in teaching him self-control and other Christian virtues. He grew up to hate all forms of weakness. Alice Miller gives text examples Nietzsche’s attempts to find his way out of the mists of confusion moral principles and attain clarity.
When children are traumatized by cruel child rearing practices, external events such as war, or outright abuse and they have no sympathizing witness, it creates evil and Alice Miller has written extensively on Adolf Hitler as her poster child of the effects of child abuse. In this book she discusses the trauma of several artists by examining their work and exploring their childhoods. She discusses repressed childhood experiences expressed in the art of Pablo Picasso, Kathe Kollwitz, Buster Keyton, Chiam Soutine and the work of Frederich Nietzche. She uncodes the story of childhood trauma no longer remembered in adulthood of these artists.
“All well-brought up children are afraid that their angry words might kill those they love”. Alice Miller states in her discussion of Frederich Nietzche who lived with the contradiction between the morality preached to him and the actual behavior of the people who raised and taught him, clinging to idealization of these abusive people. His father, though affectionate, forbade certain feelings and severely punished his son for expressing them. His father died when he was four and left him in a household of females all trying to outdo each other in teaching him self-control and other Christian virtues. He grew up to hate all forms of weakness. Alice Miller gives text examples Nietzsche’s attempts to find his way out of the mists of confusion moral principles and attain clarity.
July 27, 2010
This book probably would have made a marginally interesting dissertation for a dual Ph.D. major in art and psychology. But it lacks footnotes and citations, which irks me to no end. The basis on which the book rests can be aptly summed up with Miller's own quote: "I wanted to share what I had found with biographers and pscyhoanalysts, but I soon learned that I was dealing with forbidden knowledge, by no means easy to share with 'the experts.' And so I decided not to publish my study but to keep the knowledge I had gained to myself..."
Translation: my "study" would have been eviscerated had I published it in medical journals.
The book is an excellent idea though...that abusive and traumatic childhoods can, and often do, create a creative adolescent and/or adult. Though Miller oddly does not discuss the point, abused and neglected children must oftentimes resort to their own imaginations in order to explain and cope with their own horrific circumstances.
Translation: my "study" would have been eviscerated had I published it in medical journals.
The book is an excellent idea though...that abusive and traumatic childhoods can, and often do, create a creative adolescent and/or adult. Though Miller oddly does not discuss the point, abused and neglected children must oftentimes resort to their own imaginations in order to explain and cope with their own horrific circumstances.
November 26, 2015
If you haven't read this book, you don't understand anything about anything.
I'd love to hear her thoughts on every art piece ever created!
I'd love to hear her thoughts on every art piece ever created!
December 29, 2019
"If Neitzsche had not been forced to learn as a child to master an 'unbearable fit of sobbing,' if he had simply been allowed to sob, then humanity would have been one philosopher poorer, but in return the life of a human being named Nietzsche would have been richer. And who knows what that vital Nietzsche would then have been able to give humanity?" (Miller, 133).
Five stars. Thumbs up. I admire and appreciate Alice Miller's insights into the long-term impact childhood trauma has on creative types, in particular, but also on humanity as a whole.
Miller's examination of Friedrich Nietzsche's childhood is stunning, as are her observations regarding Pablo Picasso, Kathe Kollwitz, Buster Keaton, Paul Celan, and Adolf Hitler's childhoods. Rest assured, Miller never attempts to excuse Adolf Hitler's crimes. She simply attempts to understand his childhood in order to help us all avoid perpetuating sins of the past. We must look in order to see and we must see in order to think and we must think in order to understand then act for the betterment of ourselves and humanity rather than for our collective destruction.
Miller's thesis here is simply this: child abuse has catastrophic results on humanity as a whole.
XO.
Five stars. Thumbs up. I admire and appreciate Alice Miller's insights into the long-term impact childhood trauma has on creative types, in particular, but also on humanity as a whole.
Miller's examination of Friedrich Nietzsche's childhood is stunning, as are her observations regarding Pablo Picasso, Kathe Kollwitz, Buster Keaton, Paul Celan, and Adolf Hitler's childhoods. Rest assured, Miller never attempts to excuse Adolf Hitler's crimes. She simply attempts to understand his childhood in order to help us all avoid perpetuating sins of the past. We must look in order to see and we must see in order to think and we must think in order to understand then act for the betterment of ourselves and humanity rather than for our collective destruction.
Miller's thesis here is simply this: child abuse has catastrophic results on humanity as a whole.
XO.
January 7, 2011
All her books worth reading, an inspirational woman
February 28, 2021
„Visuomenės abejingumas žalojamiems vaikams kelia didelį pavojų žmonijai.”
Kai perskaičiau A. Miller knygą „Kūno maištas”, nusprendžiau, kad skaitysiu ir kitas šios autorės knygas. Jos nedidelės apimties, tačiau sukelia labai daug minčių, emocijų ir apmąstymų. „Nereikalingas raktas” yra ketvirtoji, į lietuvių kalba išversta jos knyga.
Šioje knygoje, ji tyrinėja žymių menininkų (filosofų, dailininkų) darbus per skausmingų vaikystės patirčių prizmę. Labai dažnai ankstyvosios vaikystės patirtys prasiveržia teptuko potėpiais, paveikslų linijomis ir spalvomis, eilėmis ir sakiniais. A. Miller išdrįso pažvelgti giliau į jų kūrybą, ir tai ką ji atrado, trikdo, glumina, netgi baugina.
Kas tas nereikalingas raktas? Atsakymą nesunku surasti. Labai nustebino faktas, jog meno tyrinėtojai labai mažai kreipia dėmesį į menininkų vaikystę. Tikrai buvo įdomu daugiau sužinoti apie įžymius žmones, jų gyvenimo detales bei kūrinius, bet mano nuomone – Nyčės veikalų ištraukų cituojama per daug.
Taip pat, autorė pasitelkdama tokių žymių žmonių biografijas, kaip Hitleris, Stalinas, Abraomas, patvirtina savo hipotezę, jog smurtas gimdo smurtą. Ji skatina sustoti ir atsimerkti, sustabdyti smurtą prieš vaikus, kurie yra visiškai priklausomi nuo juos globojančio žmogaus.
Čia taip pat akcentuojama būtinybė leisti vaikui išreikšti savo jausmus, vaiką atjaučiančio ir palaikančio žmogaus svarba. A. Miller – tai žmogus, psichoanalitikė, kuri man pirmiausia asocijuojasi su žmogumi, stovinčiu skriaudžiamo vaiko pusėje ir nebijančia sušukti, jog „karalius yra nuogas”.
https://profesionalimama.wordpress.com
Kai perskaičiau A. Miller knygą „Kūno maištas”, nusprendžiau, kad skaitysiu ir kitas šios autorės knygas. Jos nedidelės apimties, tačiau sukelia labai daug minčių, emocijų ir apmąstymų. „Nereikalingas raktas” yra ketvirtoji, į lietuvių kalba išversta jos knyga.
Šioje knygoje, ji tyrinėja žymių menininkų (filosofų, dailininkų) darbus per skausmingų vaikystės patirčių prizmę. Labai dažnai ankstyvosios vaikystės patirtys prasiveržia teptuko potėpiais, paveikslų linijomis ir spalvomis, eilėmis ir sakiniais. A. Miller išdrįso pažvelgti giliau į jų kūrybą, ir tai ką ji atrado, trikdo, glumina, netgi baugina.
Kas tas nereikalingas raktas? Atsakymą nesunku surasti. Labai nustebino faktas, jog meno tyrinėtojai labai mažai kreipia dėmesį į menininkų vaikystę. Tikrai buvo įdomu daugiau sužinoti apie įžymius žmones, jų gyvenimo detales bei kūrinius, bet mano nuomone – Nyčės veikalų ištraukų cituojama per daug.
Taip pat, autorė pasitelkdama tokių žymių žmonių biografijas, kaip Hitleris, Stalinas, Abraomas, patvirtina savo hipotezę, jog smurtas gimdo smurtą. Ji skatina sustoti ir atsimerkti, sustabdyti smurtą prieš vaikus, kurie yra visiškai priklausomi nuo juos globojančio žmogaus.
Čia taip pat akcentuojama būtinybė leisti vaikui išreikšti savo jausmus, vaiką atjaučiančio ir palaikančio žmogaus svarba. A. Miller – tai žmogus, psichoanalitikė, kuri man pirmiausia asocijuojasi su žmogumi, stovinčiu skriaudžiamo vaiko pusėje ir nebijančia sušukti, jog „karalius yra nuogas”.
https://profesionalimama.wordpress.com
October 24, 2018
Three and a half stars—when Miller is on point, she’s got insight like no one else. However much of this book is devoted to digressions—her long section on Nietzsche includes SEVENTEEN whole pages of Nietzsche’s original texts. Why was that necessary? Why was a five-page reproduction of the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes necessary?
I feel Miller is weakest when she’s trying to draw present-day political conclusions from her work. I don’t disagree with her conclusions, but they seem awfully precariously stated compared to the largely well-argued arguments about childhood itself.
On those topics, Miller is so full of wisdom that massive insights can appear virtually anywhere, meaning you want to read every paragraph quickly. To be that drawn in by part of a book only to find other parts more wasteful of your time is a strange reading experience, but this is still worth reading.
I feel Miller is weakest when she’s trying to draw present-day political conclusions from her work. I don’t disagree with her conclusions, but they seem awfully precariously stated compared to the largely well-argued arguments about childhood itself.
On those topics, Miller is so full of wisdom that massive insights can appear virtually anywhere, meaning you want to read every paragraph quickly. To be that drawn in by part of a book only to find other parts more wasteful of your time is a strange reading experience, but this is still worth reading.
September 14, 2024
Alice Miller’ın okuduğum 2 ya da 3. Kitabı oldu. Çocukluk travmalarımızın yeteneklerimizle olan bağlantısını çok güzel örnekler ile bize gösteriyor. Altını çizdiğim bir sürü paragraftan bir kaçını buraya da eklemek isterim.
‘ gençliğinde sorumluluğu bir mecburiyet görerek yetişen bir anne şimdi fedakarlık yaparsa kendini iyi ve değerli hisseder. Oğlu veya kızı eleştirel bir şey söylediğinde eleştirilerini çocukluğunda bastırmak zorunda kalan anne ise kızar.’
‘ zulme karşı mücadele vermek için önce zulmü anlamak gerekir.’
‘ gençliğinde sorumluluğu bir mecburiyet görerek yetişen bir anne şimdi fedakarlık yaparsa kendini iyi ve değerli hisseder. Oğlu veya kızı eleştirel bir şey söylediğinde eleştirilerini çocukluğunda bastırmak zorunda kalan anne ise kızar.’
‘ zulme karşı mücadele vermek için önce zulmü anlamak gerekir.’
June 3, 2025
Her insights into Nietzsche are why I read this book. They align with my own thoughts and feelings about him. Very enlightening and bias affirming.
October 15, 2022
Nietzsche, Picasso y otros artistas. Con imágenes de fotos y obras de arte.
Me gusta la metáfora de El traje nuevo del emperador.
Me gusta la metáfora de El traje nuevo del emperador.
October 3, 2013
Why do some children who suffer a troubling childhood become brutal monsters like Adolf Hitler whilst others appear to develop into highly sensitive people capable of expressing their suffering via creative pursuits? This is the question Miller attempts to answer as she explores the childhoods of the likes of Picasso,, Kathe Kollwitz, Buster Keaton, Hitler, Soutine and Friedrich Nietzsche.
Miller's work has been criticised for its lack of evidence and indeed many of her conclusions are based on speculation, but it is not speculation entirely without basis. Even if only some of Miller's conjectures about the childhoods' of these individuals are correct her conclusion is noteworthy. If a child suffering a troubled childhood has just one witness to his suffering who can help him understand that along with cruelty there can also be goodness, that he is indeed a lovable child, this child will be able to integrate into his consciousness the injustice of what he has experienced without completely repressing it. This is the commonality Miller believes she was able to find in the childhoods of artists. Whilst her investigation into the childhoods of Stalin and Hitler revealed a cold brutal harshness with no protective presence to show them otherwise than justified violence. Miller suggests this mistreated child will not be able to express their suffering through art, rather his repressed misery will be mercilessly unleashed onto others.
A thought provoking read.
Miller's work has been criticised for its lack of evidence and indeed many of her conclusions are based on speculation, but it is not speculation entirely without basis. Even if only some of Miller's conjectures about the childhoods' of these individuals are correct her conclusion is noteworthy. If a child suffering a troubled childhood has just one witness to his suffering who can help him understand that along with cruelty there can also be goodness, that he is indeed a lovable child, this child will be able to integrate into his consciousness the injustice of what he has experienced without completely repressing it. This is the commonality Miller believes she was able to find in the childhoods of artists. Whilst her investigation into the childhoods of Stalin and Hitler revealed a cold brutal harshness with no protective presence to show them otherwise than justified violence. Miller suggests this mistreated child will not be able to express their suffering through art, rather his repressed misery will be mercilessly unleashed onto others.
A thought provoking read.
August 16, 2016
This book is primarily concerned with the work and history of select individuals, for the sake of illustrating that themes of trauma persist into adult life, through both acts of creativity and destructiveness. Miller looks at Pablo Picasso, Buster Keaton, Friedrich Nietzsche, and others, analyzing their works and actions, while pointing towards traumatic themes that she believes are evidenced in the history of these individuals. Miller is critical of many of these individual’s biographers, whom she believes did not pay close enough attention to the impact of trauma in later work.
At a very basic level, the difference between the split of creativity and destructiveness appears to be the presence of at least one empathic adult during the individual’s childhood. To have someone that takes the child seriously and recognizes the cruelty that is being perpetrated against him or her appears to have a lasting influence. This is illustrated anecdotally, through the critique of artwork and the study of each individual’s early history. But within the context of Miller’s larger body work, it is an influential argument.
This is not one of my favorite books from Alice Miller, but I appreciate the place this text has in the greater exploration of the impact of trauma.
At a very basic level, the difference between the split of creativity and destructiveness appears to be the presence of at least one empathic adult during the individual’s childhood. To have someone that takes the child seriously and recognizes the cruelty that is being perpetrated against him or her appears to have a lasting influence. This is illustrated anecdotally, through the critique of artwork and the study of each individual’s early history. But within the context of Miller’s larger body work, it is an influential argument.
This is not one of my favorite books from Alice Miller, but I appreciate the place this text has in the greater exploration of the impact of trauma.
July 4, 2021
I came to read the book for the gossip it contains on our dear Nietzsche.
The Preface bode very well, as the author excused herself for "opening someone else's house and rummaging around in other people's family histories".
In part 1, Alice (the author) gave me a nice appetizer in the form of manifestations of childhood experiences in the work of artists.
In part 2, she gave me the dinner that I came to consume — an analysis of Nietzsche's writing and his childhood.
In part 3, she made it relevant to us all today, at least in my eyes.
The Preface bode very well, as the author excused herself for "opening someone else's house and rummaging around in other people's family histories".
In part 1, Alice (the author) gave me a nice appetizer in the form of manifestations of childhood experiences in the work of artists.
In part 2, she gave me the dinner that I came to consume — an analysis of Nietzsche's writing and his childhood.
In part 3, she made it relevant to us all today, at least in my eyes.
June 13, 2021
The second time this highly recommended author has been awful. Random Freudian speculation and psychobabble about famous artists and the trauma and psychodynamics that the author guesses might have inspired their art. Total bullshit. After The Drama of the Gifted Child I cannot see why anyone loves this author's works.
October 7, 2021
Average reader
It is October 2021, I couldn't help but to think that our world leaders, movers and shakers are nothing more than abused children in positions of authority.
As I look at my own life, I think she is on it, yet disagree with her theology concerning Abraham and Issac
It is October 2021, I couldn't help but to think that our world leaders, movers and shakers are nothing more than abused children in positions of authority.
As I look at my own life, I think she is on it, yet disagree with her theology concerning Abraham and Issac
May 14, 2018
I gave it three starts forgone simple reason. The Appendix and Part Three: The No longer voidable confrontation with facts.
She simply and easily breaks down child abuse in these parts and explains how it later manifests in later parts of life. It is brilliantly worded and I was quite bored with the book up until this part.
Our idealization of parents not only in society but also in psycho therapy is harmful. When we learn to stifle our feelings as children in order to appease and obey our parents these feelings later manifest themselves in adulthood and never directly at the first cause. If there is not a witness to our trauma to show us love, understanding and value alongside the abuse (r) we turn into the likes of tyrannical despots (Hitler, Stalin). We transfer our anger unto others, and at the same time demand what our parents and society demanded from those whom we perceive as beneath us:absolute obedience and loyalty to authority. And so we see how a parasitic life is born, without conscious to the suffering of others, all to a means of an end.
She simply and easily breaks down child abuse in these parts and explains how it later manifests in later parts of life. It is brilliantly worded and I was quite bored with the book up until this part.
Our idealization of parents not only in society but also in psycho therapy is harmful. When we learn to stifle our feelings as children in order to appease and obey our parents these feelings later manifest themselves in adulthood and never directly at the first cause. If there is not a witness to our trauma to show us love, understanding and value alongside the abuse (r) we turn into the likes of tyrannical despots (Hitler, Stalin). We transfer our anger unto others, and at the same time demand what our parents and society demanded from those whom we perceive as beneath us:absolute obedience and loyalty to authority. And so we see how a parasitic life is born, without conscious to the suffering of others, all to a means of an end.
July 31, 2024
"Vartydama kūrybingų žmonių biografijas pirmuosiuose puslapiuose randu probėgšmiais pateiktos informacijos, kuri labai svarbi mano darbui. Ten būna pateikti vienas ar keli vaikystės įvykiai, atsispindintys vėlesniuose tų žmonių kūriniuose ir einantys per juos raudona gija. Tačiau patys biografai į tuos pavienius įvykius beveik nekreipia dėmesio. Juos būtų galima palyginti su rastu, bet nepanaudojamu raktų ryšuliu, kurio šeimininkas nežinomas, veikiausiai jau apsigyvenęs kituose namuose ir užmiršęs
pamestus raktus.
Kažin, ar turiu teisę imti į rankas tuos raktus ir senuose namuose ieškoti jiems tinkamų durų, už kurių slypi seniai į šviesa ištrūkti geidžianti gyvastis? Galbūt atrodo netaktiška atidarinėti svetimų namų duris ir raustis po nepažįstamųjų šeimos istorijas. Daugybė žmonių vis dar žūtbūt siekia išteisinti savo tėvus, jiems mano elgesys gali atrodyti nederamas. O man tai atrodo reikalinga. Juk stulbinančios žinios, atsiveriančios už ligi šiol buvusių užrakintų durų, gali pažadinti žmones iš pavojingo, sunkių padarinių galinčio turėti miego ir padėti jiems išsilaisvinti. "
pamestus raktus.
Kažin, ar turiu teisę imti į rankas tuos raktus ir senuose namuose ieškoti jiems tinkamų durų, už kurių slypi seniai į šviesa ištrūkti geidžianti gyvastis? Galbūt atrodo netaktiška atidarinėti svetimų namų duris ir raustis po nepažįstamųjų šeimos istorijas. Daugybė žmonių vis dar žūtbūt siekia išteisinti savo tėvus, jiems mano elgesys gali atrodyti nederamas. O man tai atrodo reikalinga. Juk stulbinančios žinios, atsiveriančios už ligi šiol buvusių užrakintų durų, gali pažadinti žmones iš pavojingo, sunkių padarinių galinčio turėti miego ir padėti jiems išsilaisvinti. "
March 9, 2019
Saldo de lectura: La llave perdida (Tusquets, 2013) de Alice Miller.
Este librito de ensayos de la psicóloga y filósofa nacida en Basilea viene a encararse con biógrafos, historiadores y críticos del arte que han reducido y minimizado a simples contextos las obras de artistas y pensadores, y han omitido las zonas de olvido del alma humana donde habitan los traumas y las angustias, que para Alice Miller, están en la niñez. Por eso la infancia es la llave perdida que utiliza la autora para analizar las obras de Nietzsche, Picasso y Buster Keaton, entre otros, y adentrarse en esas moradas interiores que estaban cerradas. Culparé a la autora de ya no querer reír cuando vea a Buster Keaton y en vez de eso me ponga a llorar.
Este librito de ensayos de la psicóloga y filósofa nacida en Basilea viene a encararse con biógrafos, historiadores y críticos del arte que han reducido y minimizado a simples contextos las obras de artistas y pensadores, y han omitido las zonas de olvido del alma humana donde habitan los traumas y las angustias, que para Alice Miller, están en la niñez. Por eso la infancia es la llave perdida que utiliza la autora para analizar las obras de Nietzsche, Picasso y Buster Keaton, entre otros, y adentrarse en esas moradas interiores que estaban cerradas. Culparé a la autora de ya no querer reír cuando vea a Buster Keaton y en vez de eso me ponga a llorar.
June 7, 2022
I was excited to read this book, based on the author’s own description of it in another work. I was surprised, upon receipt of this hard-to-find title, at the thinness of the book. I soon began to wish it thinner still. It’s a slog. The chapter on Chaim Soutine devolves into a study of Hitler, as if a simple tweak in childhood experience creates an either/or scenario. The chapter on Nietzsche is half the book, larded with lengthy quotations from his writings. I did like the author’s likening of politico-military leadership to the mentality of Abraham, sacrificing youth to serve perceived duty.
March 27, 2021
This book is all about Nietzsche, fascism, and philosophy. Merely a psychology book on the matter of childhood trauma, it lacks citation of most things mentioned.
The beginning offered some interesting points on Picasso and his opus but as mentioned it is all about observations and personal opinions of Miller. At some stage, Miller goes on to quote/paste PAGES of Nietzsche's text and any explanation of the text is poorly constructed. I lost track of what the author said and whether she was actually quoting another person or not. It is not a light book and her prose is poem like.
The beginning offered some interesting points on Picasso and his opus but as mentioned it is all about observations and personal opinions of Miller. At some stage, Miller goes on to quote/paste PAGES of Nietzsche's text and any explanation of the text is poorly constructed. I lost track of what the author said and whether she was actually quoting another person or not. It is not a light book and her prose is poem like.
May 7, 2022
Alice Miller siempre me sorprende, creo que hasta el momento, me he leído todo lo que ha escrito y siempre me hace reflexionar cada vez más en la importancia de la infancia, en la importancia de la buena educación, en las necesidades del niño y sobre todo en las consecuencias que no suplirlas tiene para nuestro presente.
August 30, 2024
4.5 sigo sin identificar bien que fue lo que no me gustó del libro o tal vez sea mi propio rechazo a libros que trabajen en el fondo temas familiares.
Acerca del mismo no tiene desperdicio leerlo pues te muestra un punto de vista de una situación particular que posiblemente no es la tuya o talvez si
Acerca del mismo no tiene desperdicio leerlo pues te muestra un punto de vista de una situación particular que posiblemente no es la tuya o talvez si
October 22, 2022
It's a bit speculative and I remain unconvinced we'd be living in a paradise if there were no childhood emotional repression but it's useful speculation. I found the Buster Keaton bit the most convincing, as it probably had the most direct evidence from his childhood vaudeville days.
July 21, 2017
A fascinating look into how childhood and later behavior. Picasso, Hitler, Soutine. Very interesting.
September 17, 2019
Mielenkiintoista lukea teorioita, kuinka lapsuuden kokemukset vaikuttavat meihin vielä aikuisina, ellemme itse ymmärrä sitä.
January 23, 2021
Indrukwekkende waarschuwing dat je niet alles moet geloven wat je ouders zeggen 🥸
September 3, 2021
Toujours pertinent mais celui n’est pas bien construit : aucune conclusion.
April 3, 2022
psicoanálisis e infancias
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