Hugh Crago – författare

Our children grow up into a world of stories—in books, on screens—but what do they make of the stories we offer them? What do they think and feel as they listen to a parent read a picture-book? What if a story confuses or upsets them?

Over the past fifty years, several intelligent, committed mothers undertook the onerous task of recording exactly what their children said and did in response to the stories they shared. Some of their records extended over five years, or even longer. Their research, done without funding or academic supervision, offers us unparalleled insight into children’s minds long before they learn to speak—let alone learn to read.

In Self and Story in Early Childhood, Hugh Crago draws on his unusual combination of expertise in literary studies, developmental psychology and psychotherapy to re-examine the startling implications of this neglected body of evidence. He highlights how much children can achieve without formal teaching, but with the supportive presence of a trusted adult who will participate with them in the story experience.

This book will be of great interest to scholars of developmental psychology, early literacy and narratology, as well as to professionals working with preschoolers. Most of all, it will fascinate parents who themselves share stories with their child.

Our children grow up into a world of stories—in books, on screens—but what do they make of the stories we offer them? What do they think and feel as they listen to a parent read a picture-book? What if a story confuses or upsets them?

Over the past fifty years, several intelligent, committed mothers undertook the onerous task of recording exactly what their children said and did in response to the stories they shared. Some of their records extended over five years, or even longer. Their research, done without funding or academic supervision, offers us unparalleled insight into children’s minds long before they learn to speak—let alone learn to read.

In Self and Story in Early Childhood, Hugh Crago draws on his unusual combination of expertise in literary studies, developmental psychology and psychotherapy to re-examine the startling implications of this neglected body of evidence. He highlights how much children can achieve without formal teaching, but with the supportive presence of a trusted adult who will participate with them in the story experience.

This book will be of great interest to scholars of developmental psychology, early literacy and narratology, as well as to professionals working with preschoolers. Most of all, it will fascinate parents who themselves share stories with their child.

Is personality "in the genes"?

Do our infant experiences matter, even though we can’t remember them?

Why do patterns repeat within the lives of individuals and families?

The Stages of Life provides answers to these and other intriguing questions, and presents a refreshingly readable introduction to human development from birth to death. The book synthesises those theories and research findings that are most helpful in explaining the paradoxes and complexities of human personality and human problems.

The book provides a thought-provoking discussion of several important topics, including:

Throughout the book, Hugh Crago relates both ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ to the challenges individuals must face from early childhood through to old age. He draws attention to often-ignored clinical findings about ‘cross generational repetition’ in families, and shows how recent developments in epigenetics may supply an explanation for such mysterious phenomena.

Written without jargon, and full of new and provocative ideas, the book will be of great interest to students of counselling and psychotherapy, and it is also has much to offer the general reader. With its engaging examples from history, literature and the author’s own life, readers will find that The Stages of Life illuminates puzzles in their own lives and opens a road to self-acceptance.

Is personality "in the genes"?

Do our infant experiences matter, even though we can’t remember them?

Why do patterns repeat within the lives of individuals and families?

The Stages of Life provides answers to these and other intriguing questions, and presents a refreshingly readable introduction to human development from birth to death. The book synthesises those theories and research findings that are most helpful in explaining the paradoxes and complexities of human personality and human problems.

The book provides a thought-provoking discussion of several important topics, including:

Throughout the book, Hugh Crago relates both ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ to the challenges individuals must face from early childhood through to old age. He draws attention to often-ignored clinical findings about ‘cross generational repetition’ in families, and shows how recent developments in epigenetics may supply an explanation for such mysterious phenomena.

Written without jargon, and full of new and provocative ideas, the book will be of great interest to students of counselling and psychotherapy, and it is also has much to offer the general reader. With its engaging examples from history, literature and the author’s own life, readers will find that The Stages of Life illuminates puzzles in their own lives and opens a road to self-acceptance.

We live in a world of stories; yet few of us pause to ask what stories actually are, why we consume them so avidly, and what they do for story makers and their audiences. This book focuses on the experiences that good stories generate: feelings of purposeful involvement, elevation, temporary loss of self, vicarious emotion, and relief of tension. The author examines what drives writers to create stories and why readers fall under their spell; why some children grow up to be writers; and how the capacity for creating and comprehending stories develops from infancy right through into old age.

Entranced by Story applies recent research on brain function to literary examples ranging from the Iliad and Wuthering Heights to Harold and the Purple Crayon, providing a groundbreaking exploration of the biological and neurological basis of the literary experience. Blending research, theory, and biographical anecdote, the author shows how it is the unique structure of the human brain, with its layering of sophisticated cognitive capacities upon archaic, emotion-driven functions, which best explains the mystery of story.

We live in a world of stories; yet few of us pause to ask what stories actually are, why we consume them so avidly, and what they do for story makers and their audiences. This book focuses on the experiences that good stories generate: feelings of purposeful involvement, elevation, temporary loss of self, vicarious emotion, and relief of tension. The author examines what drives writers to create stories and why readers fall under their spell; why some children grow up to be writers; and how the capacity for creating and comprehending stories develops from infancy right through into old age.

Entranced by Story applies recent research on brain function to literary examples ranging from the Iliad and Wuthering Heights to Harold and the Purple Crayon, providing a groundbreaking exploration of the biological and neurological basis of the literary experience. Blending research, theory, and biographical anecdote, the author shows how it is the unique structure of the human brain, with its layering of sophisticated cognitive capacities upon archaic, emotion-driven functions, which best explains the mystery of story.

The earliest poems I produced were fierce jabs at the many things that irritated me about the world in which I now lived. Some of them have survived in the section of this volume that I’ve called Aspirational Lifestyles. Others (Nacht und Nebel) were responses to the harsh beauty of the upper Blue Mountains, where my wife and I have lived for the past seventeen years. An increasing number (Dream Country) took their inspiration from the cinema of the unconscious (I sometimes wake from dreams with intriguing images, and a line or two that later turns into a poem). But most of all, I found myself writing about old age (Towards Winter). It’s not a popular subject for writers generally, nor is it likely to find a wide audience among younger readers, who are understandably reluctant to look too closely at what is to come.

1904: a time of stability and hope. In a little Methodist chapel in country NSW, shy, reserved Albert marries confident, emotional Ethel. Both of them are twenty four. Four years later, at the bride’s family home in Sydney, shy, reserved Eva marries handsome, confident Victor, seven years her junior. 1969: a time of change and unrest. One of their grandchildren, confident, emotional Hugh, is married in Oxford to a reserved woman seven years older than he is. The pattern has begun to repeat… As Hugh’s life unfolds, the family themes of difference and belonging, ambition and failure, faith and doubt will play out all over again, often in startlingly literal ways. This is a family history like no other, focusing squarely on the way that families mysteriously repeat the same patterns of personality and behaviour, generation after generation.

‘I laughed, I cried, I had shocks of recognition and shocks of amazement: I was enthralled. A great story of interlocking lives…every note is in place.’ – Brian Stagoll, psychiatrist and family therapist

‘There are millions of books we don’t need – yours we do.‘ – Gabrielle Lord, award-winning novelist