An Introduction to Fairbairn's Psychology of Dynamic Structure: The Analysis of Cultural Objects [Paperback]

An Introduction to Fairbairn's Psychology of Dynamic Structure: The Analysis of Cultural Objects describes W. R. D. Fairbairn's model of endopsychic structure and includes his thoughts on the social and the aesthetic. It offers a modified version of Fairbairn's model based upon his thinking about the moral defence, psychic growth, and mature dependence. The model is brought to life by its application to the analysis of a number of cultural objects: Bronzino's An Allegory of Venus and Cupid, Dennis Potter's trailblazing miniseries The Singing Detective, the enchanting anime Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and the mind-bending cinematic experience that is Everything Everywhere All at Once. Author Graham S. Clarke also considers the current conditions affecting psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic theories: a society with increasing opposition to depth thinking of any sort and the rise of populism and the neoliberal notion of the 'self as entrepreneur'. He offers suggestions as to how these trends might be understood and challenged. In particular, he describes how Fairbairn's theory might be considered as, and provide a basis for, a critical realist personal relations approach to psychoanalysis. This book is ideal reading for all psychoanalysts and those interested in the cultural impact of the arts. Graham Clarke has been a profound interpreter of Fairbairn's multi-faceted work for decades. This rich, rigorous, and imaginative book carefully explains Fairbairn's seminal theories and applies them to art, film, television, trauma, and dissociation. It deepens our understanding and appreciation of Fairbairn as a psychoanalytical thinker and aids the reader who has never encountered his work before as well as the specialist. An excellent foreword by Clarke's son, Ross Clarke, frames and contextualises the book. Valerie Sinason, PhD, MACP (retd), MInstpsychoanal, FISSTD, founder and now patron, Clinic for Dissociative Studies and president, Institute of Psychotheral“L