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Light the first light of evening, as in a roomIn which we rest and, for small reason, thinkThe world imagined is the ultimate good.(Wallace Stevens, “Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour”)
What role does the imagination play in psychoanalysis and poetry? That it is fundamental to both makes the imagination deserving of their relational study and that David Shaddock is a significant figure in the practice of both makes him a writer not just qualified but worthy of its analysis. As a professor of literature, I’ve spent my career studying the verbal arts, and, most recently, I’ve studied psychoanalysis as an academic fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Analysis, LA to explore literature in terms of psychoanalytic theory. Given the dearth of analyses that are equally good on literature and psychoanalysis, I was at first skeptical of Shaddock’s being so and prepared to be disappointed by Shaddock’s proposed study of psychoanalysis through the lens of poetry. But that skepticism fell away and that disappointment became admiration as I read Shaddock’s distinguished and distinctive work. His knowledge of both worlds is thorough-going, well-traveled, and thoughtfully worked through. Mentored and later befriended by the poet Denise Levertov, Shaddock is the author of several editions of poetry, including, Dreams are Another Set of Muscles ; Vernal Pool ; and The Book of Splendor: New and Selected Poems on Spiritual Themes . The psychoanalytic work of Heinz Kohut, Robert Stolorow, and Beatrice Beebe have most profoundly influenced Shaddock, who is a longtime practicing analyst and integrative theorist and contributor to contemporary psychoanalytic theory. His analytic publications include, From Impasse to Intimacy: How Understanding Unconscious Needs can Transform Human Relationships ; Contexts and Connections: An Intersubjective Approach to Couple’s Therapy ; and now, most recently, the text that brings together Shaddock’s disciplines and passions, Poetry and Psychoana