Overview

Memory, Trauma and the Spirited Life offers a unique understanding of memory’s role in developing as a person, in navigating the course of life, and in mitigating emotional pain. This book develops the idea that memory, by what it endows, requires work of us that entails responsibility: to the self, the other, to the planet and to the living and the dead. Discussing the concept of memory and what it provides from the ancients to the present, Burrell draws on such writers as E. M. Forster and Rosa Luxemburg, Walter Benjamin, Tzvetan Todarov and Edward Said, as well as Susan Rubin Suleiman and Paul Ricoeur, to explore the operation of cultural and collective memory, trauma, otherness and the possibility for forgiveness. By means of richly detailed clinical vignettes, the author provides a psychoanalytic perspective to illustrate the transformative power of memory in coming to terms with the past, thereby making it essential reading for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists in practice and in training, as well as those with interests in history, literature, identity, the treatment of trauma and the question of hope.

Full Product Details

9781032411194

Table of Contents

Reviews

'An excellent overview of memory as it has been conceived of by multiple disciplines in the past and present added to by the author's own scholarly and creative imaginings. In this sense the book is what it studies, a construction. It is a must read for those grappling with understanding this mystery.' Gillian Straker, clinical professor of Psychology, University of Sydney; visiting research professor, University Witwatersrand 'Gillian Burrell brings a unique lens to our understanding of Memory. Her perspective is informed by psychoanalysis, philosophy and literature, exploring the political and ethical dilemmas of contemporary society. Vivid vignettes from her own life and work as a psychotherapist provide a spirited response , original and passionate, illuminating the centrality of Memory to understanding our relationship to the past, the present and our futures.' Dr. Penelope Jools, clinical psychologist

"‘An excellent overview of memory as it has been conceived of by multiple disciplines in the past and present added to by the author’s own scholarly and creative imaginings. In this sense the book is what it studies, a construction. It is a must read for those grappling with understanding this mystery.’ Gillian Straker, clinical professor of Psychology, University of Sydney; visiting research professor, University Witwatersrand ‘Gillian Burrell brings a unique lens to our understanding of Memory. Her perspective is informed by psychoanalysis, philosophy and literature, exploring the political and ethical dilemmas of contemporary society. Vivid vignettes from her own life and work as a psychotherapist provide a ""spirited response"", original and passionate, illuminating the centrality of Memory to understanding our relationship to the past, the present and our futures.’ Dr. Penelope Jools, clinical psychologist"

Author Information

Gillian Burrell has worked in private practice as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist for the past twenty-five years. She trained with the NSW Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and became a full clinical member in 1994. In the decade before, Gillian worked for Relationships Australia as a marital and family therapist. As a young woman, she read the Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, and while her first love was film, once Gillian began to explore the world of psychoanalysis, she knew she’d found her calling.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available