Full Product Details
Author: James E. Groves (Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA)
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Routledge
Weight: 0.453kg
ISBN: 9781138556270
ISBN 10: 1138556270
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 24 October 2017
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.
Reviews
This book is invigorating, sometimes infuriating, always interesting, often moving, and consistently well-informed- not a surprise given the author's background but a huge bonus for literary readers when Groves discusses psychoanalysis. It is a surprise as well as a bonus when he discusses not just Hamlet but also its critical tradition, including the textual arguments: he's far better informed than you would expect, better informed than most professional Shakespeareans. This book will focus and refocus people's thinking about the play on the psychological aspects of its characters, so central to its greatness, and which have been so neglected in recent sociological and historicizing criticism. Groves brings Shakespeare back to the psychological terrain which is his home, to the advantage of playwright and analyst alike. The writing is wonderful, full at once of style, brio, wit, and earnestness, a tough combo to pull off. Groves has learned much from his psychoanalytic heroes about caring for the experience of his interlocutor-in this case his readers- including their central experience of coming to understand. There's a lot to learn from this superb book; superb not least in the way it skillfully conveys its insights. -William Flesch, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Brandeis University. In Hamlet on the Couch, James E. Groves succeeds at something unique and remarkable. He approaches Shakespeare and Freud as equal partners in the construction and understanding of human psychological life. Traditionally analysts have applied psychoanalytic ideas and methods to the Hamlet play, approaching it as if it were a dream to be interpreted, whose hidden unconscious truths are revealed behind Shakespeare's symbols and complex rhetoric. But Groves eschews a one-sided application, as he seeks an interpretive balance, using Shakespeare as much to understand Freud as vice versa. For Groves, Shakespeare is not some accidental Freudian, a naive genius who stumbled on truths to be explained later by Freud and his followers.ã On the contrary, Shakespeare is shown to be a peerless psychoanalyst, and he demonstrates how a close reading of Hamlet (on Shakespeare's own terms, albeit enriched by Freud) reveals insights of which even Freud was only dimly aware. It is one of the great joys of Groves' book that, rather than using Freud to better understand Shakespeare, he uses Shakespeare's art to better understand Freud's creativity and science. I can think of no better demonstration of the fruitful partnership of psychoanalysis and the arts. -George Hagman, Psychoanalyst and Author of The Artist's Mind: Creativity, Modern Art, and Modern Artists (Routledge, 2010). Faculty, Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. Faculty, Training and Research Institute for Intersubjective Self Psychology. Hamlet on the Couch reminds us how deeply satisfying it is to be in the hands of a literate, wise, and seasoned observer of human nature. Groves creates something dazzling in his synthesis of the works of two geniuses. Freudian psychology and Shakespearean storytelling are marvels to behold, but Groves shows us how each illuminates the other, so that the resulting whole is much richer than the sum of these iconic parts. This is an invigorating read that leaves us marveling at the complexity and timelessness of human experience. -Robert J. Waldinger, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and Psychoanalyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.
This book is invigorating, sometimes infuriating, always interesting, often moving, and consistently well-informed- not a surprise given the author's background but a huge bonus for literary readers when Groves discusses psychoanalysis. It is a surprise as well as a bonus when he discusses not just Hamlet but also its critical tradition, including the textual arguments: he's far better informed than you would expect, better informed than most professional Shakespeareans. This book will focus and refocus people's thinking about the play on the psychological aspects of its characters, so central to its greatness, and which have been so neglected in recent sociological and historicizing criticism. Groves brings Shakespeare back to the psychological terrain which is his home, to the advantage of playwright and analyst alike. The writing is wonderful, full at once of style, brio, wit, and earnestness, a tough combo to pull off. Groves has learned much from his psychoanalytic heroes about caring for the experience of his interlocutor-in this case his readers- including their central experience of coming to understand. There's a lot to learn from this superb book; superb not least in the way it skilfully conveys its insights. -William Flesch, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Brandeis University.
Author Information
James E. Groves, MD, is a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He practices psychotherapy, supervises psychiatry and psychology trainees on their psychodynamic cases, and offers tutorials in Literature and Psychiatry.
