You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The purpose of Dr. Chessick's new book is to “investigate the connections between pathological mental conditions and creative activity.” He specifically hopes to “put to rest for once and for all the old fallacious notion that psychoanalysis removes or inhibits the creative capacity of the artist.”
Dr. Chessick's method is to intensively evaluate the creative efforts of two personas, the poet Ezra Pound and “Barry,” a composite of several patients he treated psychoanalytically. Clinical and creative aspects of these lives are presented in segments which alternate with chapters commenting on the lives from a variety of scholarly disciplines. Synthesizing these efforts are Dr. Chessick's comments and theoretical concepts, some highly original.
At the outset I should say that although Chessick's arguments seem pertinent, often fascinating, the book in my eyes does not settle the issue. But this does not detract from the book's appeal. Dr. Chessick is a fine writer and thinker, and kept me with him to the end of an informative, densely packed volume.