Categories
Psychoanalysis

The Terrified Cynic: Why Some Prefer Depression to Anxiety

We fear life as much as death. And our cynicism, a persistent sense of hopelessness, is little more than a balm for that anxiety, although we may, outwardly, detest it. If you ask many people, and they’re honest with you, they’ll tell you that depression is preferred to anxiety; they’d rather be sad than scared. […]

The Terrified Cynic: Why Some Prefer Depression to Anxiety
Categories
Film Literature Psychoanalysis

Death of Joseph Heller (1923–1999) – The Novelist Who Gave English Its Most Famous Paradox

Joseph Heller transformed English-language satire by exposing the absurdity of bureaucratic logic and institutional speech. With Catch-22, he introduced a lasting idiom, reshaped the war novel, and showed how English can both reveal and distort reality. His work endures as a critique of power, language, and contradiction.

Death of Joseph Heller (1923–1999) – The Novelist Who Gave English Its Most Famous Paradox
Categories
Classics Literature Poetry Psychoanalysis

Birth of Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) – The Private Genius Who Rewrote English Poetry

Emily Dickinson, born December 10, 1830, transformed English poetry through her dashes, compressed imagery, and metaphysical vision. Her private writings reshaped the lyric, proving that English could whisper, fracture, and blaze with revelation. From one quiet room, she revolutionized how the language breathes, pauses, and imagines.

Birth of Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) – The Private Genius Who Rewrote English Poetry
Categories
French politics Psychoanalysis

Fragment de vie dans un fragment d’image …

Comme photographe et comme personne, nous sommes souvent les témoins involontaires et indiscrets de plusieurs instants de vie pour lesquels l’intimité des gens semble compromise par l’impertinence de notre présence. Dans cette partie d’image captée lors de mon récent et bref séjour à Paris j’ai d’abord remarqué cette scène remarquable de désespoir et de tendresse […]

Fragment de vie dans un fragment d’image …
Categories
politics Psychoanalysis

The Creepy and Cringworthy

https://open.substack.com/pub/slavoj/p/versions-of-abject-ugly-creepy-disgusting-7e1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=9131h

Categories
Literature Poetry Psychoanalysis

Nature or Nurture? John Clare, Peasant Poet

The poetry of John Clare feels different from that of other Romantic poets.  Since I am fully aware of what an ambiguous characterization that is, I will attempt to qualify some of the differences I see in his poems and, specifically, in his understanding of Nature.  When I read the poems of Wordsworth or Coleridge, […]

Nature or Nurture? John Clare, Peasant Poet
Categories
Art and Photographic History Psychoanalysis

Unpredictable Perception

Categories
Book Reviews Literature Psychoanalysis

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington

Born in Lancashire in 1917, Leonora Carrington is perhaps now best known as a surrealist artist; in 2024, one of her artworks sold for $28.5 million. During her career, however, she also wrote novels, short stories, a play and a memoir, all infused with her dreamlike, idiosyncratic worldview. First published in English in 1976 but […]

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Categories
Film Psychoanalysis

Deliver Me From Nowhere: A Study of Mental Health Through Music

The biopic “Deliver Me From Nowhere” chronicles Bruce Springsteen’s struggles with depression while creating the album “Nebraska.” It explores themes of male friendship, creative drive, and the impact of his tumultuous relationship with his father. The film emphasizes the importance of belief and support in overcoming mental health challenges.

Deliver Me From Nowhere: A Study of Mental Health Through Music
Categories
politics Psychoanalysis

Perhaps the absence of women significant?