Retelling A Life

Here is the long-awaited new book by the influential, always provocative psychoanalyst, Roy Schafer. It focuses on a vacuum that has developed between psychoanalysis and critical thinkers in the social sciences and humanities. Schafer’s goal is to weave psychoanalytic discourse into the tapestry of modern trends in intellectual history, notably linguistic and hermeneutic approaches to interpretation.The manner in which we ”narrate” our lives is the central theme of psychoanalytic discourse and a critical issue for all of us, Roy Schafer argues. Narrating, giving an account, presenting a version: these terms make up the core vocabulary of the narrative approach. From this perspective, Schafer offers a new understanding of such diverse issues as men’s struggle against sentimentality; women and power; happiness and failure; and analysts’ sublimated love for their patients.Whether he’s redefining the self, reinterpreting Freud, or counteracting the stereotype of the aloof, authoritarian, and patriarchal analyst, Schafer’s rich observations will inform and stimulate not only analysts but all those interested in psychoanalytic thought as an intellectual current of our times.