| The Secret Artist: A Close Reading of Sigmund Freud Contributor(s): Chamberlain, Lesley (Author) |
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ISBN: 158322260X ISBN-13: 9781583222607 Publisher: Seven Stories Press OUR PRICE: $22.46 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 2001 Annotation: "I argue that Freud is fundamentally an artist, but that the artistic expression of his desires and fears is suppressed". Beginning with this premise, Lesley Chamberlain's The Secret Artist looks at the meaning of Freud's life and work through a new lens. Part biography, part thoughtful examination of his work, this book uses Freud's own writing on art and aesthetics to show how his imaginative creations have revolutionized not only mental health but also thinking about art -- by opening up the individual subconscious as a subject. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Social Scientists & Psychologists - Psychology | Movements - Psychoanalysis - Family & Relationships |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2001041070 |
| Physical Information: 1.18" H x 5.65" W x 8.59" (1.14 lbs) 252 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Widely acclaimed for giving an understanding of the connection between Nietzsche's personal experience and his most famous ideas (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times) in her biography of Nietzsche, Nietzsche in Turin, Chamberlain now renders a similar service to readers of Freud. In this book, part biography, part literary criticism, she takes the reader into the mind of Freud, toward a better understanding of the thinker, his work, and art itself. The very idea of the subconcious as a constant, active presence in our daily lives was Freud's greatest contribution and has allowed generations of people to experience their lives more deeply. His rigorous exploration of the dynamism and structures of the subconscious, Chamberlain argues, was in itself an important work of art. Using Freud's own writing on art and the aesthetic theories of thinkers ranging from Nietzsche to Lionel Trilling, Chamberlain examines Freud's art and shows how his imaginative creations have revolutionized not only mental health, but our thinking about art in general, by opening up the individual subconscious as a subject. In elegant, accessible prose she describes how Freud split the aesthetic atom, releasing a vast energy for individual creativity. |