ESDL481
CONTEMPORARY OBJECT RELATIONS:
ESSENTIAL TEXTS, MASTER THINKERS, AND CREATIVE ELABORATIONS WITHIN THE EUROPEAN TRADITION
Institute for Clinical Social Work: Fall 2011
Jennifer Tolleson, Ph.D., L.C.S.W.
Course Description: Drawing from psychoanalytic texts, film, and fiction, this course will explore various dimensions of mental experience (narcissism, perversion, hysteria, the true self, group conformity, faith, abjection, and psychic deadness) as creatively imagined by master thinkers within the classic and contemporary European (primarily British) object relations perspective (specifically Bion, Balint, Winnicott, Bollas, Green, Kristeva, Freud, Chasseguet-Smirgel, Stoller, and Symington). The goal of the course is to promote the student’s working understanding of this unique conceptual tradition and how it informs a radical re-visioning of the human experience.
Prerequisite: Freud I and II; Object Relations I
Required Texts: The following texts must be purchased:
1. Bollas, C. (2000). Hysteria. London and NY: Routledge.
2. Freud, S. (1921 ). “Group psychology and the analysis of the ego.” Standard Edition XVIII.
3. Ionesco, E. (1959). “Rhinoceros.” In Rhinoceros and Other Plays, D. Prouse, Translator.
4. Ozick, C. (1990). The Shawl: A Short Story and a Novella. Vintage Books.
5. Stoller, R. (1975). Perversion: The Erotic Form of Hatred. London: Karnac Books.
6. Symington, N. (2002). A Pattern of Madness. London: Karnac Books.
Assignments: All readings are required. Students must come to class prepared to reflect upon and integrate the readings into the classroom discussion.
Each student will do one short (15 minute) presentation at one point in the term. For the presentation, the student will use the assigned readings on the day’s concept to analyze the related film or piece of literature (see below). The student should also examine the same film or literature using Symington’s, A Pattern of Madness, as the informing text. How do selected elements of Symington’s view of narcissism differentially inform the piece? Please use one of the following film or literature selections for your analysis:
1. The Abject: Poe, E., Berenice, or another Poe tale of your choice.
2 The Dead Mother: Ozick, C., The Shawl.
3 Hysteria: Film, Safe.
4 Group Relations: Film, Triumph of the Will or Ionesco, E., Rhinoceros.
5 Perversion: Film, The Piano Teacher (2001, Michael Haneke, Director) or Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell, Director).
Instructor: Students can contact me at Jentolleson@comcast.net, or 312-409-2851, or 802-651-7670. My mailing address is: 1 Iranistan Rd., Burlington VT 05401.
CONTEMPORARY OBJECT RELATIONS:
ESSENTIAL TEXTS, MASTER THINKERS, AND CREATIVE ELABORATIONS WITHIN THE EUROPEAN TRADITION
Institute for Clinical Social Work: Fall 2011
Jennifer Tolleson, Ph.D., L.C.S.W.
Reading List
(Please read the core texts, which are italicized, first)
CLASS 1: NARCISSISM (NEVILLE SYMINGTON)
Symington, N. (2002). A Pattern of Madness. London: Karnac Books.
CLASS 2: MEMORY, DESIRE, AND FAITH (WILFRED BION)
Bion, W. (1967). “Notes on memory and desire.” Psychoanalytic Forum, 2, pp. 271-280.
Bion. W. (1970). “Reality sensuous and psychic” and “Opacity of memory and desire.” In Attention and Interpretation (pp. 26-54). London: Tavistock, 1970.
Coltart, N. (1992). “Slouching towards Bethlehem………..or thinking the unthinkable in psychoanalysis.” In Slouching Towards Bethlehem (pp. 1-14). London: Free Association Books.
Eigen, M. (1981). “The area of faith in Winnicott, Lacan, and Bion.” International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 62, pp. 413-433. PEP
CLASS 3: THE TRUE SELF (DONALD W. WINNICOTT)
Bollas, C. (1989). “A theory for the true self.” In Forces of Destiny: Psychoanalysis and Human Idiom, PP. 7-22. London: Free Association Books, 1991.
Winnicott, D.W. (1960). “Ego distortion in terms of true and false self.” In The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment (pp. 140-152). London, Hogarth Press, 1965.
CLASS 4: HYSTERIA (CHRISTOPHER BOLLAS)
Bollas, C. (2000). Hysteria. London and NY: Routledge.
Carveth, D.L. and Carveth, J.H. (2003). “Fugitives from guilt: Postmodern de-moralization and the new hysterias.” www.yorku.ca/dcarveth/Hysteria.htm.
Film: Safe, 1995, Todd Haynes, Director.
CLASS 5: THE ABJECT (JULIA KRISTEVA)
Kristeva, J. (1982). “Approaching abjection.” In Powers Of Horror: An Essay On Abjection (pp. 1-31). Columbia University Press.
Poe, E. (1835). “Berenice.” Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Tales, Julian Symons, Ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1991.
CLASS 6: THE DEAD MOTHER (ANDRE GREEN)
Green, A. (1983). “The dead mother.” In On Private Madness (pp. 222-253). London: Hogarth Press, 1986.
Gerson, S. (2010). “When the third is dead: Memory, mourning, and witnessing in the aftermath of the Holocaust.” International Journal of Psychoanalysis.
Ozick, C. (1990). The Shawl: A Short Story and a Novella. Vintage Books.
Sekoff, J. (1999). “The undead: Necromancy and the inner world.” In The Dead Mother: The Work of Andre Green (pp. 109-127), G. Kohon, Ed. London: Routledge, 1999.
CLASS 7: GROUP RELATIONS AND THE PROBLEM OF FREEDOM (SIGMUND FREUD)
Freud, S. (1921 ). “Group psychology and the analysis of the ego.” Standard Edition XVIII.
Ionesco, E. (1959). “Rhinoceros.” In Rhinoceros and Other Plays, D. Prouse, Translator.
Symington, N. (1990). “The possibility of human freedom and its transmission (with particular reference to the thought of Bion). International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 71, pp. 95-106. PEP
Film: The Triumph of the Will, 1935, Leni Riefenstahl, Director.
CLASS 8: PERVERSION (JANINE CHASSEGUET-SMIRGEL, ROBERT STOLLER)
Chasseguet-Smirgel, J. (1991). “Sadomasochism in the perversions: Some thoughts on the destruction of reality.” Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 39, pp. 399-415. PEP
Stoller, R. (1975). “Part II: Dynamics: Trauma, hostility, risk, and revenge.” In Perversion: The Erotic Form of Hatred, pp. 63-162. London: Karnac Books.