(2002). International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 83:304-309 Review by: Vincenzo Bonaminio Translated by: Cracking Up, published in 1995, is the fourth in Christopher Bollas's series of rich and penetrating books, which has since continued with the addition of two more recent volumes, The Mystery of Things (1999) and Hysteria (2000). As an enthusiastic reader of the author's original treatment of the clinical phenomena he explores, embodied in a unique and personal style that eschews all the conventions of psychoanalytic writing, and partly because of his two-year periodicity of publication, I was expecting this book to be a further development of what I saw as a unitary—albeit internally linked—trilogy comprising The Shadow of the Object (1987), Forces of Destiny (1989) and Being a Character (1992). However, when I saw what intense concentration was called for in the (in fact highly rewarding) reading and re-reading of Cracking Up owing to its complex and closely argued subject-matter, I realised that this volume constitutes not only a further step in the evolution [This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.] |
