Uneasy Listening: Notes on Hearing and Being Heard

Discourse #8

by Anouchka Grose, Robert Brewer Young

What makes a good listener? There are a number of commonsensical ideas about what constitutes doing it well — patience, tolerance, availability, responsiveness, lack of moral judgement — but is it really so simple? Is it a skill one can easily learn or more of a quirk or talent? And why do some people seem to be so much better at it than others?

Written by a psychoanalyst and a violin maker, Uneasy Listening is a dialogue between two very different kinds of professional listener: the former working with speech, the latter with musical instruments. Beginning as total strangers, Anouchka Grose and Robert Brewer Young embark on an engaging, entertaining, and winding meditation on communication that weaves together wide-ranging references from across psychoanalytic theory, philosophy, contemporary politics and culture. As they discuss the differences, similarities, and resonances between their practices, they run up against some of the illuminating difficulties of dialogue itself. The result is a kind of awkward duet in which two thinkers and practitioners accommodate, interrupt, and perplex each other in an attempt to say something about what listening means.

Genres: Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2022

Reviews

[Erica Lorenzana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really struggled to get through this very short book. It was a very very slow read and not as much on “listening” or “being heard” than I thought it would be. Cool topic I think it was poorly executed.

[Deki Napolju · Rating 2 out of 5]

As others have noted, the title of this work doesn't quite fit the project. While one of the authors (Grose) approaches listening from the perspective of the analyst-analysand relationship within psychoanalytic practice, they quickly get lost down the rabbit holes of that world that have little to do with listening. This perhaps betrays the old adage that psychoanalysts are more interested in engaging in an intellectual tradition than in actually communicating (and by extension, being helpful).

Up until the last quarter of the book the reader is left wondering where the co-author (Young) sits in all of this. They are represented only by a couple of oblique interludes which are over-written to the point of pretension, and seemingly evidence an exquisite corpse-form of writing experiment that the authors are engaging in, albeit in a lop-sided fashion.

The text ends with the the transcript of a conversation between the two authors. It is only here that we get an idea of Young's insights on listening but by this stage it's too late to integrate them into Grose's earlier ruminations. As such, the reader is left with a pile of fragments and scratchings, but not of the poetic kind where they are intrigued to find meaning within the gaps.

[Calum Wight · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is, unintentionally, a damning exposé of psychoanalysis and the authors' lack of academic rigour.

While the book claims to focus upon listening, most of its content is concerned with psychoanalysis and different features of this subject and how individuals may or may not receive benefit from it. Grose in sections of the book will give damning criticism of an essay/psychoanalysis such as 'It states upfront that it's going to be evidence based and thoroughly sensible, while conceding that psychoanalysis doesn't really work like that.' If it's not evidence based not sensible why are we discussing it then as though it is?

I initially liked the structure of this book in its short paragraphs and sections, however it seems these are simply due to Grose's vague and limited ideas and her lack of research not allowing for more in depth examination.

For a book about listening it seems that both authors have never read anything academic about theories of human communication, communication generally, sound, music or listening. This is clear in that they stumble vaguely around topics which are widely discussed and understood in academia.

There is some tilt towards music in the book through Young's inclusion. I appreciate Young's poetic talent though it explains little about the listening process it is aesthetically enjoyable. It appears in relation to music and related discussed topics that Grose knows absolutely nothing about music and Young is entirely unfamiliar with the field of musicology. Their discussion at the end of the book had promise, but it is literally taken from a three minute long discussion in which they vaguely meander around topics. Young is about to say something interesting about what draws people to excellent instruments before Grose cuts him off with a nonsensical point relating music to madness.

It's obvious that the reason why Grose doesn't like 'snotty intellectuals' and why they are unsuitable for psychoanalysis is because her opinions are based upon 'the unmistakable aura of truth' rather than reproducible academic research.

This is a book of vague ideas sprawled on a page, if the authors write again I would hope they would consider academically researching their supposed non-fiction work.

[Connor Lamphier · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting enough set of notes I guess, largely on psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic technique. The title of the book and its description are a bit inaccurate, as this tends to be a bit one sided rather than a back and forth dialog between two professionals in two different fields of listening. I wish there were more portions from Robert, as I really enjoyed his writing style, and I thought the actual transcript of dialog between the two was the high point of the whole little tome. I was expecting more when it came to general ideas on interpersonal listening, and while I feel like I got a good baseline understanding of psychoanalysis, that isn’t really what I was interested for.
Overall, there is nothing wrong with this, but it wasn’t worth any more time than the little it took to read for me, and while I’m glad to have learned a bit on psychoanalysis and its history, not much of this will stick with or impact me all too much in how I go about listening and being heard going forward.

[Mafalda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a very poor book. From the point of view of the musician, it was really difficult to take something from that side, as it simply delves deep on psychoanalysis. Only the final conversation conveys anything from the musicians point of view, but even that editing could have been way better, with a lot of “hmms” and “ahas” that could easily been left out.

Good for those interested in psychoanalysis. Terrible for the musicians

[Cicely · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really what I thought it was going to be based on the description, which would have been fine if it was organized nicely and felt more whole… but it didn’t :/ cool concept but not the best execution (I also had a hard time focusing, though, so this could be mainly a me problem)

[Ellie Búnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my gosh. This reminds me of Heiddeger’s ‘The Therapist as Listener’. I so wish this was compulsory reading for every human ever. Wow this could change the world. Listening is life changing istfg !!!! What a beautiful ending, especially the note on the economy of listening.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the conceptual field, bounded by the spectrums of the dual POV’s. At times I was pleased by the synchrony between science and art, although at other times I found the level of self-occupation in the overall narrative to detracting from the observant tone

[Urja Gaurav · Rating 1 out of 5]

Should’ve been called Notes on Psychoanalysis. Way too pigeon-holed in a psychoanalyst point of view when I think hearing and being heard goes beyond that. A topic that this book promises requires an interdisciplinary approach which didn’t come through.

[Emmett Pinsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

great

[Samuel Cashmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic, short book for anyone interested in Psychoanalysis.