Disseminations: Psychoanalysis in Context – serie

Alan Roland is both a highly respected psychoanalyst and an exhibiting artist, giving him a fresh perspective on psychoanalytic studies of art and the artist. Here he argues for an interdisciplinary integration of psychoanalysis with art and artistic criticism, and against the reductionism of applied psychoanalysis.

Exploring the artistic process and the concept of the artistic self in terms of self-objects and transformational objects, Roland challenges the basic assumption of applied psychoanalysis - that the work of art is a dream or daydream expressed within a formal aesthetic framework. Written in an accessible, non-technical style, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in psychoanalytic criticism or psychoanalytical theories of dreams and creativity.

Alan Roland is both a highly respected psychoanalyst and an exhibiting artist, giving him a fresh perspective on psychoanalytic studies of art and the artist. Here he argues for an interdisciplinary integration of psychoanalysis with art and artistic criticism, and against the reductionism of applied psychoanalysis.

Exploring the artistic process and the concept of the artistic self in terms of self-objects and transformational objects, Roland challenges the basic assumption of applied psychoanalysis - that the work of art is a dream or daydream expressed within a formal aesthetic framework. Written in an accessible, non-technical style, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in psychoanalytic criticism or psychoanalytical theories of dreams and creativity.

This eclectic collection of essays reflects the far-reaching, multi-dimensional influence of Christopher Bollas. Bollas galvanises our understanding of what happens when people encounter the objects - the endlessly variegated content - of external reality. Each of us has our own unique idiom through which we endow objects - a painting, a football, a stranger - with special meaning. Bollas has added depth to our understanding of these relationships with vitality rarely found in psychoanalytic writing. The contributors to this volume offer definitions and illustrations that make Bollas' thought accessible for those approaching his work for the first time and illuminating for those more familiar with his canon. The Vitality of Objects reveals the possibilities for self-expression and growth that figure in the process of object relations and shows how and why thinkers and artists from so many different perspectives are attracted to Bollas' thought.

This eclectic collection of essays reflects the far-reaching, multi-dimensional influence of Christopher Bollas. Bollas galvanises our understanding of what happens when people encounter the objects - the endlessly variegated content - of external reality. Each of us has our own unique idiom through which we endow objects - a painting, a football, a stranger - with special meaning. Bollas has added depth to our understanding of these relationships with vitality rarely found in psychoanalytic writing. The contributors to this volume offer definitions and illustrations that make Bollas' thought accessible for those approaching his work for the first time and illuminating for those more familiar with his canon. The Vitality of Objects reveals the possibilities for self-expression and growth that figure in the process of object relations and shows how and why thinkers and artists from so many different perspectives are attracted to Bollas' thought.